Hell or High Water
by gusenitsa
Summary: This tale is a more detailed and Killian Jones centric retelling of the s5 underworld arc (more detailed summary at the beginning of c1.) CoWritten by Gusenitsaa and Pirate-owl with help from JustMilah! Beta-ing and fun angsty seasoning provided by tw:icecubelotr44. Look at that cast of writers and take a deep breath. Cause we're so gunna make you pay for that happy ending!
1. 1 Leviathan Shoals

_This tale is a au/divergent retelling of the s5 underworld arc with a few key changes. Namely this is very much a Killian Jones centric tale. **Jones brothers** , **Captain Swan** and **MiLiam** (Milah/Liam) will form the emotional core of the story. _

_Essentially we've cut out the non-Killian centric parts of the underworld arc and fleshed out the killian-centric relationships and themes that they just didn't have time to in canon! (So, if you're for example a Rumple!Stan you may want to turn back now! We happily ignore most of his existence for the purposes of this story.)_

 _The story will begin from Liam's perspective, many years ago in a place called Leviathan Shoals. This is based on a canon scene from the official ONCE comic (yes, there is one) and it can be found on Queen-Mabs-Revege's tumblr if you haven't seen it already: (post/164837822530/dead-in-the-water-killian-joness-tale-from-once)_

 _CoWritten by Gusenitsaa and Pirate-owl with lots of help in the milah sections from JustMilah! Beta-ing and fun angsty seasoning provided by tw:icecubelotr44. Look at that cast of writers and take a deep breath. Cause we're so gunna make you pay for that happy ending with angst! It will be ~14 chapters long though this may vary a bit if we decide to move where any chapters begin/end._

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Leviathan Shoals was not a good place to live, but Liam Jones wasn't entirely convinced that _living_ was exactly what he was doing. He only had vague recollections of arriving in the Shoals, and his recent memories seemed clouded by the mists. At least, he was blaming the mists for it. Maybe it was just the effects of having spent so long here alone that he started losing track of things.

The one good thing about those mists was that they brought ghosts to keep him company sometimes. Not ghosts, not really. Killian, at least was still alive.(And he would continue telling himself that until he believed it beyond any doubt or fear.) But the others whose shades came to walk with him were less fortunate. Most often it was Killian, though, who walked with him on the deck of this ghostly ship, in these ghostly waters. And it was Killian who always vanished into the mists, leaving Liam alone yet again.

It had been more than a month since the last time a familiar ship sailed into the shoals, at least that was his best estimation. He tried to keep track of time but it felt like he was slipping sometimes.

"Ahoy there!" Killian's voice called from Liam's former ship. Although this time it was festooned with pirate colors. A pirate flag was new, a shade of Killian sailing to the shoals was not. Liam stepped to the side of his own small new ship, catching sight of his brother on the Jewel of the Realm.

"It can't be…" Killian said.

"Killian? Brother, is that really you?" Liam asked. He knew better. The mists and his own loneliness had conjured Killian's form far too often for Liam to be fooled. But even so, some tiny, irrational hope sparked in his mind that this time, just this once, maybe it was real; maybe Killian was here to save him from these accursed waters.

"Liam, hang on," Killian called down, ordering a rope ladder lowered from the taller vessel.

He knew how the next part would go, convincing 'Killian' that he wasn't dead, hearing this particular version of how Killian had come to these waters. In the end the details didn't matter, Killian could have been speaking another language entirely and he'd have been happy just to hear the sound of his voice.

"The last time we were in these quarters," Killian was saying, "I held you in my arms as the Dreamshade's poison crept back into your veins. The magical waters from Neverland failed you once we were home…"

It was strange, Liam mused, how the phantasms of the shoals seemed so fixated on his apparent death. He'd had some variation on this conversation with some shade that looked like Killian nearly too many times to count now.

"I remember. I remember the pain of it…" Liam rubbed a hand across his forearm, feeling briefly an echo of remembered pain, but he carried on. "And the darkness. There were no dreams, no feeling…When I finally awoke, I found myself marooned on a desolate island. There was fresh water and abundant fishing, but no people, no landmarks I could recognize. The loneliness was almost too much. I don't know how long I was there before a boat arrived on the island's shores, blown off course during a storm. I begged them to let me on board. Though their vessel was small, they agreed, and I thought I was on my way back to you, Killian." The story came out with a practiced ease. He didn't particularly _enjoy_ telling this tale, but the shades never let him skip it. And if it kept him in the same room as Killian for a few moments longer he'd tell Killian about every damn day. "But then a storm blew up, more ferocious than any I'd ever encountered… When the waves suddenly calmed, we thought we had been miraculously spared. We gave thanks to the gods of the sea. It was only once the madness struck the crew that I knew without a doubt where we were. ...The Leviathan Shoals. Hysteria spread amongst the men, each succumbing in turn as our attempts to escape the shoals failed. For each time we tried to flee, we were thwarted by the monstrous creature that inhabits this cursed realm of the ocean. I was the only one aboard my vessel who survived."

Liam's tale was interrupted by a knock at the cabin door, "Captain, a word?" a voice called.

Killian excused himself and as he left Liam couldn't help the smile that crossed his face at Lewis's voice. Doubtless the man had come to warn Killian that he wasn't real. He shook his head, reminding himself that this wasn't _really_ Lewis and likely didn't share Lewis's superstitions. When Killian returned he had a stern expression on his face.

"What is it, brother?" Liam asked.

"The men are having a bit of difficulty believing you are not a phantom sent to drag us to the depths," Killian admitted, "as did I, at first."

Liam raised his eyebrows. None of the other shades had thought to question him so directly.

"At first?"

"I know my brother," Killian said quietly.

Liam swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.

"So," Killian continued, voice stronger, "what easier way to show them you are no phantom then to get out of this place, aye brother?"

Liam had some difficulty hiding his surprise. Often the shades tempted him to stay, and now this one offers him aid in escaping? Before he could respond Killian had stood and was leading the way from the cabin.

"Alright men, gather 'round," Killian called, and Liam noticed an easy air of authority that was new. There were familiar faces and new ones. Some of the men looked at Liam with suspicion, others with hope, but most simply looked to Killian. "We'll be departing these shoals with haste. Now listen closely. We have one shot at defeating the creature who rules these shoals… This monster is used to one target at a time. But if that target should split into two… And if those two should then attack it...it might provide enough of a distraction. And buy us enough time to flee to honest waters."

"Attack it?" Liam asked, startled, "With what weapon, Killian?"

"Leave that to me," Killian smiled, "You'll find the _Jewel of the Realm_ is far better armed now that she's the _Jolly Roger."_

The men scattered to make preparations and Liam found himself once more in the cabin with Killian, this time both bent over a chart. It was not accurate within the shoals, but Liam had made what corrections on it he could from too long spent in these waters.

Liam's vessel was the more vulnerable, but also the more maneuverable, and both vessels needed to be close enough to the edge of the shoals to manage an escape from a dangerous, wounded beast after the attack. It would not be an easy fight but with proper coordination Killian was confident they could pull it off. For the first time, Liam was beginning to share that confidence. He found himself watching Killian more than the chart, for the first time daring to hope that maybe this time it was real. This time he _really_ had his brother back.

"The _Jolly Roger_ is ready to set sail," Killian said, though something about his tone made it sound like an admission of guilt.

"Why do you say it like that, Killian?" Liam asked and when Killian looked at him there was a vulnerability in his eyes that had been hidden from him earlier.

"Because I'm afraid," Killian admitted, "Because I know it's the only way, but… Liam I just got you back, I don't want to let you off this ship."

Liam instinctively went to Killian, clasping his shoulder and pulling him into a hug. Protected from the sight of the crew, this embrace was different. Liam could feel the shaking of Killian's shoulders and he tightened his grip.

"I missed you," Killian said shakily, and something inside Liam shifted, something he'd not felt with any of the shades that had crossed his path. Something that screamed _I know my brother, too._

"I missed you too, Killian," Liam said, his own voice not quite steady. "Every day, I missed you. But we're together now, that beast won't know what hit it."

Killian nodded, pulling away with a look of determination on his face. "Then there is no reason to tarry. The longer we linger, the less likely we'll take the creature by surprise." Liam nodded. Final preparations were made and all too soon Liam was back aboard his own ship.

"Good luck, brother," Killian called, "And know this… though you helm a different vessel, you will always be at my side."

"Awfully sentimental for a pirate, aren't you?" Liam teased.

"Just like an older brother, making jest of everything," Killian's words held no venom but Liam felt the need to respond in kind regardless.

"Well, hear this, for it is not in jest. Take care, Killian, and may luck be with you, too."

* * *

Luck was with them, everything went exactly according to plan. Killian's charges went off first and the _Jolly Roger_ broke away towards freedom, open sea so close Killian could nearly taste it. Liam's went off moments later just as planned, the more maneuverable vessel retreating from the explosions as well as Liam had claimed that she could. But then something happened that they had not accounted for.

The wind shifted, and sparks showered onto the stern of Liam's vessel and it caught.

"Brother! Your boat! Look out! Liam!" Killian called across the waves. "Abandon ship! There's no time to lose! Jump and we'll haul you aboard!"

Liam had been half prepared to do just that, but he pulled back from the edge of the ship. It wasn't the first time some shade, more often than not wearing Killian's face, had tried to lure him into the water. Perhaps the beast's destruction was merely a specter also. His heart sank. For one bright moment there he had truly believed it was really his brother, had wanted to believe it so badly he had nearly cast aside all sense in this place of deceptions. "Are you mad, Killian? Who's to say there's not another sea beast lurking in these waters!"

"Then we'll send out a lifeboat!" the shade wearing Killian's face insisted. He could challenge the shade, tell the shade he knew it wasn't real. But he still wanted it to be real so badly it was almost painful.

"One of the monsters could swallow a lifeboat whole," Liam insisted. It would be so easy for the beast to devour him that way. "You have to come back with the Jolly Roger!" If it came back with a ship, it wouldn't matter if this Killian were a hallucination, or some trick, he would be on a ship and could sail, even if he would still be trapped in this cursed place.

"But we're so close to freedom," Killian insisted. It wanted Liam in the water so badly, he could hear the desperation in Killian's voice, in the shade's voice.

"There's no reason we have to leave tonight, Killian!" he called, sudden desperation in his voice too. It wasn't Killian, not really, but it was the closest thing Liam had to Killian in this damn place and he wasn't ready to lose him yet again. "Let's stay in the shoals a bit longer! Search out other lost souls who may be hidden in the mists. We can try for free waters another day. Please, come back for me."

There was a quiet discussion on the ship, Killian and Lewis, he thought, making a decision.

"Killian, no!" he called across the now quiet water. Tears stung his eyes as the ship turned, sailing for the horizon. "You left me once… Don't do it again! Please, don't go!"

It was all a trick, he reminded himself. As always. This was no different. The beast likely thought that desperation would drive him to dive into the water, faced with Killian's refusing to return. Perhaps even the fire was a figment, a trick to send him to the waves, to let the beast devour him. He reached out a hand to test that, but drew it back as he felt the heat on his skin.

His ship, his one safe haven in all this madness, was burning. He had a choice: to burn or to let the beast devour him. He could see no other options, no way to escape his demise one way or another. Some part of him wished the mists would rise, that he could see Killian's face once more, wouldn't have to be alone, even if it wasn't real, but he shook that thought aside. _It_ had done all of this, had stolen his brother's face, had tricked him and manipulated him, all to get him into the water.

It was a ridiculous thought. It shouldn't matter to him whether the beast ate him or not. He would be dead either way. Choosing the more painful death just so the beast wouldn't win was ridiculous. It was… exactly the kind of stubborn thing Killian would do, if he were really here. He almost smiled at the thought. Of course Killian would. He looked out at the strange green waves instead of at the fire raging closer. "After all, a captain should go down with his ship," he said aloud.

"That's shockingly noble, coming from you." He wheeled at the voice and saw Hades, his hair aflame, striding calmly across the burning deck.

"You!" Liam snarled.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Hades commented coolly, "but after the brief mutiny, you were _technically_ the captain of the ship that went down with all hands, save yourself and your brother."

"What are you doing here? Because I'm not going to make another deal with you, not for just myself."

"So you might for your beloved brother? That's interesting. But no, I'm not here about that. Have you figured out you're already dead yet?"

A reflexive denial rose in him, but he pushed it aside, forced himself to look at the situation critically. As much as he would like to deny it, that would explain a lot, actually, like waking up sewn into a sail on that island, among other strange things in the Leviathan Shoals. He might have expected to have more of a reaction to the news, but he had spent his life closing off his own feelings and dealing with situations as they came. He had no intention of breaking that habit in death.

"If that's true, aren't you a little late?" Liam asked. "If I'm dead, it was probably the Dreamshade, and that was hardly recent. Why the delay?"

"Not the usual reaction to finding out you are dead," Hades said mildly. "There's usually a lot more 'no that can't be,' or 'we can't be because we're talking' not practical questions about timing. And speaking of practical, let's continue this conversation somewhere less on fire."

He grabbed Liam's shoulder. There was a flare of blue light, followed by a moment of darkness, before they reappeared in a dark room with stone walls. Liam stumbled, unaccustomed to a solid floor beneath his feet after so long at sea.

"My question stands," Liam said when he regained his footing.

"Of course it does. You were there to bait a trap, to help me gather the last survivor of a certain shipwreck."

"You were baiting Killian? With me?" Liam asked. He forced himself to calm down. He didn't know if it was even true. "Did it…?" He shook his head. "It didn't work. He always left. Killian is safe from you."

"Are you sure?" Hades asked. then leaned in closer. "You don't honesty believe your _little brother_ capable of leaving you behind? After you _begged_ him to come back for you?"

"Yes, I do," Liam retorted, pride in his voice. "Killian saw through your trick, even when I could not."

"Shall we go and check?"

"Check?"

"I returned you to the shoals once, I could do it again."

"Why would you do that?" Liam asked suspiciously. "If you intend to use me as bait again you will not succeed. I will not draw my brother back into those waters-"

"Oh, but you already have," Hades insisted with a predatory grin. The stone walls melted away and flames sprang up around them again, though this time he could not feel the heat from the flames.

"Why am I not-"

"Burning?" Hades supplied helpfully, "Because you're not _here_. Not really. Without a beating heart you cannot truly pass through to these waters. It was only my magic that allowed you to be seen and heard here in the land of the living. A favor I have not extended a second time."

"Then why are we here?" Liam's eyes darted to the horizon where he could still see his ship- his brother's ship -silhouetted against the sky. "He's leaving. You've failed."

"We'll see," Hades said, still smiling.

Liam's eyes locked onto the ship again and in an instant he realized why Hades grinned. The ship was growing larger.

"No-"

"Oh dear-" Hades taunted.

Liam looked around the deck of the ship, finding the box of explosives he'd used against the beast. There wasn't much left and it was still beyond the reach of the flames creeping along the deck. If he could throw it into the flames, perhaps the resulting explosion would convince Killian it was too late. Maybe he would turn around, make for safer waters again. Liam rushed towards the box and bent to lift it, but however hard he tried he could not move the box.

"What part of 'not really here' was unclear?" Hades asked.

"Let him go," Liam begged. "I'll do anything, just let him go-"

"And what do you think you have to offer me for such a favor?" Hades chuckled. "You're dead, I own you already. And I'd _really_ like the set."

The ship was making incredible speed towards them, the wind, itself, seeming to want to draw the ship back into cursed waters. Before long he could see Killian clearly on the deck again. A larger man was speaking to him insistently. Lewis, probably. He'd been with Liam for longer than any other on the crew, long before Liam had been made captain. He was a good sailor, Lewis, but he'd no designs on leadership, content with his place as a man before the mast. And he was as superstitious as they come. For the first time Liam blessed the man's willingness to believe in all the demons of the sea. But Liam's hopes were dashed when Killian spun on Lewis and said something which had the man shrinking back. With a resignation that Liam could read in the man's shoulder's even without being able to hear his words, Lewis retreated from Killian's side.

"Damn them," Liam cursed under his breath. _Why don't they refuse him? Why don't they see this for what it is and stop him? Tie him to the bloody mast if they have to until the madness has passed_. "Damn their loyalty to the depths-"

"I intend to," Hades responded, a note of amusement in his voice that sent a chill down Liam's spine.

He could hear voices now, distant, but growing clearer at every moment.

"No one on deck, Captain," someone called.

"He may have leapt into the sea," Killian called back. "He's a strong swimmer, search the waters. Find him."

"KILLIAN!" Liam cried. "It's a trick. Make for safer waters!"

There was no response from the rapidly approaching ship and Hades rolled his eyes. "Yell yourself hoarse, he can't hear you."

"Not too close," Killian cried. "Do not let the flames spread. Bring buckets."

A line of buckets began to appear on the edge of the deck. But they didn't try to put out the flames on the burning ship, recognizing it to be a lost cause, merely standing in readiness should the flames blow their way.

"Liam!?" Killian called over the roaring of the flames. "LIAM!?"

Killian bent and took one of the buckets, dumping it over his head.

"NO!" Liam called, knowing Killian couldn't hear him but desperate to stop him regardless.

"Cut the rope as soon as I land-" Killian ordered.

"But Captain-"

"Do as you are ordered or the _Jolly_ will burn and it will be your skin on the line if we survive."

Before the man could argue, Killian had leaped from the ship, sliding down the line to the smaller vessel using the rope to slow his descent. No sooner had he landed than the rope caught fire, the flames zipping up the oils on the line with terrifying rapidity, only to be harmlessly extinguished as the severed end dropped into the sea.

Killian was already moving, wrapping a wet rag around his mouth and nose and moving as close to the flames as he dared. He kicked the box of remaining explosives overboard as Liam ran towards him.

"LIAM?" Killian called, making for the hatch to the hold which was still out of the reach of the flames, though not for long. The flames crept ceaselessly along the wood of the deck. He flung open the hatch and recoiled when hot smoke poured from the hold. "LIAM?" Killian called again.

Liam reached for Killian's shoulder as he hesitated outside the hatch, clearly trying to decide if he should risk descending to search below.

"Do you think it will be the flames that take him, or the smoke?" Hades taunted.

"If I were there I'd be long dead, Killian," Liam said, frustration rising as Killian did not respond to the pressure at his shoulder. "Come on, brother, I taught you better than this."

Killian hesitated only a moment longer and cursed under his breath, finally coming to the same conclusion. He turned and ran for the side of the ship, diving into the water and swimming to the rope ladder his men dropped over the side. Liam couldn't help the proud smile on his face as Killian climbed back aboard and the ship began to retreat from the burning vessel, but one look at Hades killed his elation.

"Not over yet," Hades said and Liam looked up again… tentacles were creeping up the side of the ship yet unnoticed by the crew.

Finally someone called the alarm. "KRAKEN!"

The men jumped to defend the ship, cutting at limbs with sword and ax as they crept over the ship's deck. There were too many. In moments, the ship was trapped helplessly in the grip of giant tentacles which tightened relentlessly.

"Let's get a closer look, shall we?" Hades offered, putting a hand on Liam's shoulder and in the blink of an eye he was on the _Jewel's_ familiar deck and racing to his brother's side again, for all the good it would do.

Killian was still trying to cut away one of the tentacles when a loud shudder ripped through the vessel and a crack echoed across the water. Liam flinched and Killian froze, a look of shock crossing his face as the cries from the crew began to echo out around him.

"Taking on water, Captain-"

"She's going down, Cap-" There was naked grief on Killian's face as he realized the ship was beyond his power to save.

"What do we do, Killian?" The last call was Lewis and it seemed to shake Killian from his shocked inaction.

"ABANDON SHIP, get the lifeboats free, NOW!" he called. The stern of the ship began to break away and sink as the men rushed to the boats. Killian fought his way toward them, but a giant arm from the creature flew from the water, knocking him down and trapping him against the deck as it gripped the vessel. Lewis was at his side in a moment, hacking away at the monstrous limb, but the creature was too strong. The blows had little effect except to seemingly enrage the creature; more limbs thrashed out trying to send Lewis flying into the sea.

"Get the men into the boats, Lewis," Killian cried.

"Not going to leave you, Captain, not a chance." Lewis dropped to his side and tried to pry Killian loose, only succeeding in eliciting a cry of agony from Killian.

"That's an _order_ ," Killian growled. The man hesitated still and Liam had never loved him more in all his life.

"Killian-"

"Please, Lewis," Killian said, finally, "Do not let their blood be on my hands, too."

"Aye." Lewis rocked back on his heels, face pained. "That burden is no longer yours, my captain, but mine."

He gave Killian a salute, a strange, archaic thing from one man in a pirate's garb to another but one Liam recognized instantly from their days in the Royal Navy. Killian nodded gratefully at Lewis and the man stood and ran back towards the hesitating crew.

"Get the bloody boats in the water, you fools," Lewis cried as Liam sank down to the deck next to Killian. Finally without an audience, Killian fell back to the deck. His legs were pinned so tightly he didn't even try to struggle.

"I'm sorry, brother," Killian murmured, his eyes closing, and for a moment Liam hoped that his brother could hear his voice.

"No, Killian, it is I who-" Liam started, but Killian continued speaking, Liam's words incapable of reaching him.

"Will you forgive me for being a damn fool when I join you in the deep?"

Liam could vaguely hear Hades laughing from the other side of the deck, but ignored him. Even if Killian could not see him, he would _not_ die alone.

Liam tried to brush Killian's hair from his eyes, as he once had for a child afraid of the dark, but Hades would not grant him even that small gesture of comfort. He combed his fingers into his brother's hair anyway, and rubbed his thumb across the back of Killian's hand where it lay on the deck.

The deck shifted under them and water flowed over their joined hands as the _Jewel_ … the _Jolly,_ began to dip beneath the surface.

"Sure you want to watch this?" Hades' voice taunted, but Liam ignored him, his eyes locked on his brother.

"I'm right here, Killian," he murmured, knowing Killian couldn't hear him but hoping that somehow he could _feel_ that he was not alone. "I love you, brother." He repeated the words over and over as the water deepened, swirling around, tugging and pulling at them.

Suddenly something shifted and the ship slipped, plunging them both under the cold water. A survivor's instinct made Killian fight now, trying desperately to free himself from the creature's grip. Liam could feel his own lungs burning with a remembered need for air. An added cruelty; Hades' little joke, perhaps, that his dead lungs could now feel his brother's pain. Finally Killian gasped, his need for air overriding his mind's knowledge that none would come. His body seized up, coughing and choking and struggling for freedom for one final moment before going limp.

Liam's eyes stung, from the salt water, or perhaps the tears that he knew were being lost to the sea as he clung to Killian. Suddenly, his brother was torn away and Liam found himself coughing and gasping on the stone floor of the room Hades had taken him from.

"Where is he?" Liam demanded desperately as soon as his lungs cleared the water enough to speak. Killian's form appeared on the cold stone floor. He was soaked and pale and as still as the stones.

"No!" Liam cried, rushing forward and falling at his brother's side "No, no, no, please, no. Killian?" Killian wouldn't wake, however much Liam begged him to open his eyes. Liam gathered his cold body up into his arms, rocking slowly back and forth, tears streaming unchecked down his face.

"Oh, but isn't this what you wanted?" Hades asked in a sickly sweet tone. "For him to come back for you? Congratulations. Here he is, Just as you wanted."

"No," Liam said. "This… no. It's a trick of the mists, nothing more. It _has_ to be a lie." For all the determination he forced into the words, he clung to Killian's body still, gently brushing the damp hair from his closed eyes.

"You're probably right," Hades taunted. "Surely a lie. After all, Killian would never be so foolish as to return to cursed waters when his beloved brother _begs_ him to… right, Captain?"

Hades waved his hand and Killian's body faded from Liam's arms, leaving him sitting alone on the floor of the cell, clutching desperately at empty air.

Hades left him alone with his thoughts then, left him alone to wonder if he saw the truth when Killian sailed away, or if he saw the truth with his brother's body cold on the floor of this very cell.

* * *

The second time Hades took him to the shoals Liam was damn near relieved. If it were happening _again,_ it couldn't have been real, right?

Hades chose that moment to conveniently remind him that nothing would stop the shoals from showing him visions of an already dead pirate. Then reminding him that he'd thought his brother a phantom once before and look what a mess that had made. _What if this time it's real?_ Each time he would watch Killian's ship turn around and come back for him, and each time something went horribly wrong.

Hades had learned quickly that Liam's indifference to physical pain shattered when it was his brother's pain he was feeling. So his own lungs burned as Killian breathed in the smoke from the flaming ship, his own skin prickled and blistered when Killian drew too near the flames. A physical reminder of what Liam's thoughtless plea was costing Killian.

It wasn't the last time he'd watch Killian die, that he'd _feel_ Killian die.

Sometimes it was the smoke that took him, while Killian searched the hold for his brother's body, slowly being overtaken by the fumes until he sank to the ground, dead before the flames even reached him. Sometimes the flames reached the box of explosives before Killian could kick them from the deck and the ship was engulfed in flame with Killian still aboard. Sometimes the Kraken choked away Killian's life, sometimes a splinter of shattering mast left him bleeding out on the deck. Hades' creativity seemed limitless, and each time Liam was right there with him, feeling every blow, every lick of flame, every choking breath of smoke or water. When it was finally over he was left alone in that stone cell with the wrecked body of the boy he loved so much more than his own life. His tears coursed freely down his cheeks and he hoped silently, _desperately_ that it wasn't real. _Couldn't_ be real.

The first time Killian's ship escaped the Kraken, Liam was so far gone that instead of relief he felt only foreboding . Hades remained on the deck of the ship with them, his mere presence daring Liam to hope that this time… maybe this time...

The crew revolted against Killian as they neared the edge of the shoals, for putting them in such peril. It was Lewis who suggested keelhauling as a fitting punishment and it was that which convinced Liam beyond all doubt that this time, it was _not_ real. He threw himself over the side of the boat, determining in less than a second that he'd rather drown again than have to watch even a shade of Killian suffer such a cruel fate.

It didn't stop the lacerations that opened up along his back and shoulders, scored through skin and into muscle by the barnacles that shredded his little brother's flesh, a brutal, burning reminder that there was nowhere he could go to escape Hades' power.

When he was returned to the stone room he was alone.

Killian had been there every other time. Normally, Hades waited until his tears had all dried up and he was an exhausted shell of a man still clinging to Killian before his body vanished from Liam's arms and the door swung open, Hades' taunting invitation to go back to his bar. _Until next time_. This time the door was already open.

Liam never thought he was capable of hoping to see Killian in such a state, but a sudden horror ripped through him. _Why was this time different?_

"HADES! Where is he?" Liam cried.

There was no reply, the only evidence of Killian's fate the burning agony along his back and shoulders, wounds that had always before perfectly mirrored Killian's. He struggled painfully to his feet, the torn flesh across his back protesting this new abuse, and made for the open door but no one stopped him.

Hades did not return.

A sinking, nauseated feeling was settling in his stomach. _It was different, why was it different?_ He'd been so certain that it wasn't real moments ago when he dove from the ship, but now a nagging doubt tugged at the back of his mind. The mists drove men to madness, and Lewis was surely no exception. Liam swallowed hard, horror rising.

What if it was different because this time- What if Hades had finally let him see his real brother. And he'd abandoned him, left him to die alone as he'd sworn he _never_ would?

He made his way slowly and painfully back to the bar, half expecting at any moment to hear Hades' taunting voice, but there was nothing. Nothing save a few sympathetic looks from unfamiliar faces who nevertheless knew the look of a man who'd been on the wrong side of Hades' attentions.

He picked up a pair of scissors from behind the bar as he moved through the empty room towards the tiny apartment behind it, knowing that the shirt was already ruined and not worth the agony it would be to lift his hands over his head right now. He cut the shirt carefully up the side and peeled it off, wincing as the wet fabric tugged across torn skin. The cold shower was rarely much of a comfort and it hurt more than he anticipated, stealing the unneeded breath from his lungs. But at least it washed away most of the sickening scent of blood.

Without anyone to properly bandage the wounds he couldn't reach he knew they would scar badly, but he couldn't bring himself to care. There was no one to do it anyway, certainly no one he trusted to see him in this state. So when he pulled himself from the cold shower he only managed to half dress before he stopped, throwing the shirt he'd been about to tug over the open wounds onto the floor.

"Why?" he asked himself, or maybe Hades, should he be listening. B _ecause the bar was due to be opened in half an hour?_ He shook his head, exhausted, and lay face down on his cot. "Screw him," he muttered into his pillow. _What is he going to do, hurt me?_

The bar didn't open again for three days.

* * *

His wounds healed, mostly. Scars had never bothered him much before. He'd gathered a fair few during his life, more often than not they were each a mark that Killian would never have to wear. The fresh scars from the day he'd abandoned Killian made him sick to see in the mirror, nearly covering the ones that he'd once borne as a badge of honor.

From that moment forward, Liam knew he'd no choice but to find a way to destroy the deranged Hades. If Killian really was down here, somewhere, beyond his reach- he never let himself finish that thought.

He mapped every square inch of the Underworld; buildings and streets, though those were constantly shifting and changing. He paid particular attention to the forests and caverns, which seem to remain more or less the same as the years dragged by. He spent his nights making his way through the labyrinth below the city, documenting every dead end, every false passage, every trap waiting in the dark. Until finally he found something worth finding.

Or Hades was messing with him. He had to know Liam had been poking around, closer and closer to his sanctum. It might be a trick, to distract him, it might be a children's story with no echo in reality but maybe it was something more. Something he'd want to keep close. Liam searched every nook and cranny of Hades lair and beyond. but the object of the story remained elusive.

Every nook and cranny save one. Liam hesitated outside the stone room for what felt like hours when he ran out of other places to look. Hades would certainly find him if he didn't _move_ but he found himself frozen. The door was open, like it had been the last time he'd been here. And just beyond that doorway could be the key to Hades downfall. Liam started forward again then stopped as suddenly as if he'd hit a brick wall. There was no wall. Just the memory of a broken boy, broken so many ways, so many times. Just the memory of countless tears shed on the floor of this cell. Just the smell of smoke and the taste of seawater and the crack of a dying ship- Liam took a step back. Surely Hades wouldn't keep something of such importance here? The door wasn't even locked, wasn't even closed. Liam took another step back, then another and then he ran.

A part of him almost wanted Hades to catch him, to take him back to Leviathan Shoals, to convince him that there was nothing special about that last time. But he was never taken back to the shoals.

Hades never came.

* * *

 _ **A/N: well that was cheerful! Angsty backstory for the win. We'll be adding some new characters to our underworld cast next chapter! We were thinking of doing weekly updates, but we'll probably post chapter two sooner because after all that angst we know we owe you a touch of humor in apology :P**_

 _ **So... Whose our next visitor to the underworld?**_

 _ **Don't forget to leave a review!**_ _ **We accept bribes in the form of sobbing, cursing, kitten gifs or Jones brothers**_ ** _head canons._**


	2. 2 Milah comes to Underbrooke

_**Quicker than the normal weekly schedule, as promised!**_

 _ **If you haven't already, be sure to check out the tumblr postings of this story on pirate-owl 's tumblr. There's some fantastic art that goes along with the chapters of this story. This chapter's is provided by Queen-mabs-revenge!**_

* * *

Chapter 2 

Being in the Underworld, Milah recognized the lie for what it was: _Bullshit_ fed to the living to soothe their own pain. All her life she had been fed stories of how death was _peaceful_. Not that she would want any of the people still left who cared for her to know what it had been like to end up here, a man with hair of flame assuring her that yes, she was dead, and that she was going to be here for a _very_ long time.

Questions about the fate of her crew, demands about what had happened to her captain, went unanswered save for a smug grin. All her threats managed to achieve was that grin broadening into amusement. "You're... _feisty_. I'm going to enjoy watching that drain out of you."

Milah kept her head down after that, blending in as well as she could in a new environment while keeping her ears open. The first week was hard. Though she'd been given employment of sorts, shuttling children across a road, it didn't stop the knowledge that she was alone in a way she had never been before. Part of her expected to see Killian, or anyone from the crew, at any moment. She wasn't sure which was worse. The devastating fear that he _would_ show up or the crushing weight of loneliness when he didn't.

It wasn't until she heard about the only tavern in this forsaken place that she formulated any sort of concrete plan. Which, to be honest, wasn't much of a plan to begin with. But having lived in a small port for most of her life, Milah knew that if anyone knew anything, it would be the bartender.

The door chime mocked her with a cheerful tinkle that felt out of place. _The Rabbit Hole_ had one thing going for it in that it was perhaps the cleanest establishment she'd ever been in. She slipped into a stool at the bar and watched the man behind it with a shrewd eye. He had that same void in his expression many of the people she'd seen here had, that look of someone who had nothing left to hope for and had long ago accepted it. How he managed a smile for her as he took her order, false though it was, would remain a mystery for years to come.

For a moment she hesitated, wanting to order rum. But it brought a stinging to her eyes she was nowhere near ready to deal with. "Gin and tonic."

He slid a napkin in front of her as he made her drink. It wasn't until he placed the tall glass garnished with a wedge of lime before her that he spoke.

"You're new here." His voice was a practiced sort of warmth, not quite genuine yet not entirely uninviting.

Milah narrowed her eyes at him as she curled her fingers around the glass, not yet ready to take a sip of her drink. "How do you know I've just never been here before?"

His smile was thin. "You still have that look in your eyes."

She arched an eyebrow at him, "Oh really. What look is that?"

"Life." He picked up a glass from a tray of freshly washed dishes and started to dry it. "It will fade in time."

She closed her eyes so he wouldn't be able to see the roll of them. "Right, of course." Milah picked up her glass and took a sip, shuddering at the flavor that coated her tongue. She hid behind the revulsion of it as she continued. "I'm looking for someone. I figured if anyone would know, you would."

He shrugged, "If they've been here more than a few days, there is a good chance I've at least seen this person."

"Tall? Dark hair, blue eyes, enjoys leather more than I do?"

He thought for a moment before shaking his head, but she could see a moment where he stilled. "I can't say that your description sounds familiar."

Milah huffed. Right. "He has a faint scar, just here, at an angle, he could probably glare you out of everything you own and what he can't he would probably be able to just...okay, look, he just has these eyes where he can… And when he's _hurt_ you just want to… but when he's _angry-_ " She had to take another long pull of the repulsive drink. "I'm just...I'm just _looking_ for him, alright?"

The bartender narrowed his eyes at her a little. "Who is this man that you're looking for _so_ desperately _?_ "

Milah's next sip was anything but small. "My captain."

He studied her for a moment. "You're not of any navy I'm familiar with."

She snorted, "Neither is he."

Liam leaned against the bar, closing in on her, invading her space _just so._ "And what is the name of your captain, sailor?"

Milah gave him a _look._ Refusing to let herself be pushed she leaned forward, pressing her hand against his chest, nudging him to back up _just so._ "Killian Jones."

She was quite certain she hadn't pushed him _that_ hard, but he stumbled back, the glass falling from his hand with a crash that quieted the bar for a moment. Dropping glasses must not be something he'd done often, judging from the look on his face. Gone was the void that was in all the faces around her. He looked almost...afraid. He bent down to sweep up the shards and Milah took the time to nearly drain the rest of her drink.

When he stood up again, his face was schooled into something like calm. "And why is it you're looking for him?"

Milah stared at him for a second. _Seriously_? "Why else would I be _looking_ for him? I need to know if he's here!"

"But why? Who is he to you?" It infuriated her, the way he just so calmly picked up another glass to dry, almost seeming bored with the conversation, as though expecting her to pretend she hadn't noticed his response to that name.

She lunged forward and grabbed his sweater, pulling him close. "Listen here, you smug _jackass._ I'm _looking_ for him because as much as I _want_ him here, I need him to _very much_ not be here. And if you won't give me a straight answer, I will pull you over this bar and rip your spine out through your _throat,_ do you hear me?"

And then…then he did something that normally would have caused her to do just that if it weren't for the fact that his smile was strangely... _happy?_ Hopeful, even. She kept her grip on his sweater, though her expression softened from fury to suspicion. "You know him. How do you know him? Have you seen him?"

"I was _his_ captain," he shrugged a shoulder, that small smile still on his lips, "but I haven't seen Killian down here. Not really."

Milah blinked. There weren't many who Killian told her about who had held that title. Which captain would smile at the possibility of Killian being down here? Her eyes widened and her fist flew forward, connecting squarely with his jaw. "You son of a _bitch!_ "

"What the bloody hell was _that_ for?" Liam tried to pull back to assess the damage to his face but Milah was stronger than most gave her credit for at first glance.

"There aren't many captains of his who would be _pleased_ to think he might be _dead_. And I've been wanting to do that for a _very_ long time."

"What are you-you insane, _crazy_ woman, I'm not pleased about _that!_ " Something about the way he stared at her like she really was insane and couldn't _believe_ she'd just done that made her blink.

She saw it, then. The brothers didn't exactly look alike, but she'd known that from Killian's descriptions of the older Jones. But now that she really _looked,_ she could see what similarities there were. Especially around the eyes.

Milah suddenly released the death grip on his sweater, though her hand stayed poised where it had been, fingers frozen in a released claw. "...Liam?"

The eldest Jones rubbed his jaw as he arched an eyebrow. "How'd you guess?"

She had punched Killian's brother. _Of course,_ she had punched Killian's brother. "I told you. He's my captain."

Liam shrugged at that. "Many people go through many captains."

"I have only one captain," Milah insisted, clenching her jaw. "I've been with him for a decade." She leveled him with another look. "I held him together when you couldn't."

He looked at her for a long moment, still worrying his hand over his jaw even as his furrowed eyebrows relaxed. "What did you say your name was?"

This time she didn't hide the roll of her eyes. "Milah."

"You said a decade," Liam asked, "so… he was alive, when you died?"

Milah nodded and at the confirmation Liam sagged against the bar in relief.

"You didn't know?" she asked. Liam shook his head but offered her no more. "Well before you get too excited, l… I don't know if he is still."

"What happened?"

"The Dark One murdered me," Milah seethed, "right in front of Killian. And I don't… I don't know what's become of him now." She felt a tear slip down her cheek and she swiped at it angrily. "And I miss him, I miss him like I shouldn't be able to when my heart is dust. But I do. And I want to see him again, and I hate myself for wishing to see him again when that would mean-"

"I understand," Liam said quietly.

She'd been about to spit out a sarcastic response when something made her bite her tongue and look up at him. "You do, don't you?"

Liam indicated her empty glass questioningly and she nodded. "Anything but gin," she grumbled, "or rum. No rum."

It was three drinks more before she finally looked up at him again. He'd been watching her intently all night, she could feel it, but she knew what he wanted and she just _couldn't_. Not yet.

"How are we going to find out?" she asked.

"If a newcomer knows his name, but you're the first in ten years. I feared he was already here, trapped somewhere beyond my reach. Perhaps Hades simply wanted me to believe that. He loves his games…"

"So we just… wait?" Milah's voice was all incredulous frustration and Liam almost laughed. Ten _years_ he'd waited for word of Killian, and she'd been here all of a few days- He shook his head, clearing the train of thought away.

"There's a phone booth," he offered, "I've tried but I don't know if he ever heard."

"A phone booth?"

"They say it lets you speak to those above. Nobody really knows if- It's probably wishful thinking for the desperate."

"You said you've tried?" Liam looked away, the subject clearly a sore one. "It works," she said carefully. Liam looked up at her hopefully but something in her face was changed, more carefully guarded than she had been a moment ago. "But that won't help us find out if he's here."

"I can show you if you like, surely you've words left unsaid?" Liam asked.

Milah shook her head. "He knew what I needed him to know."

"Milah-"

"I'm not using that damn phone booth-" she snapped and Liam froze. She tried to cover her outburst with a half-hearted smile. He didn't look convinced but Milah just returned her gaze to her drink. She had no intention of telling Liam how she knew that phone booth had worked. How Killian had sworn to her on some days he could hear his brother's voice. How he had tried to chase that voice, right to the bottom of a bottle. She shook her head again. "I need to know where he is," Milah said, "That doesn't help me."

He had that look in his eyes now, that one Killian got when he had too much time to think, too much time alone. She instinctively reached for his hand, wanting to soothe away the demons in his mind. _Not Killian,_ her mind retorted and she clenched her fist and moved her hand to her lap.

"He's a good captain, you know," she said, finally glancing up at him again. "And a better man. You should be proud of him." As she hoped the comment seemed to pull Liam out of his head and he smiled.

"I _am,"_ he replied wistfully.

"He talked about you a lot," she continued and his smile fell. "Not like _that-"_ she said quickly. "Or … well yes. He missed you terribly, of course like that. But not _just_ like that. He cut his hair, you know."

"About bloody time, did you ever see the damn thing?" Liam replied with a small chuckle.

"No, he'd cut it by the time I met him." Milah smiled, "Said you threatened to cut it off while he was sleeping a few times."

"Threatened?" Liam retorted, "I _tried._ The lad sleeps light as a cat- I stopped trying when he nearly turned the blade on me when he woke. Very ornery when he's woken with a blade in view."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Milah insisted, "I've a hunch he could pull off anything-"

Liam rolled his eyes, "No one could pull off _that_."

People were shooting Liam dirty looks from all down the bar, their drinks long empty, but he didn't seem to notice. He leaned across the bar towards her and this time she didn't push him away.

"You said he was no longer Royal Navy?" Liam asked.

"After what your king did to you?" Milah exclaimed in surprise. "You didn't honestly think he could serve him? I suppose you don't know about the _Jolly_ do you?" Liam shook his head. "He kind of… took the _Jewel of the Realm_ with him when he left the Royal Navy. I knew her as the _Jolly Roger_."

Liam's eyes widened a bit but all he said was, "Subtle."

"Killian isn't subtle," she grinned, "and he made your king wish he'd never heard the name Liam Jones."

"And you've been with him," Liam asked, insistently, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Nearly all this time since I-"

"A lot of it."

"And you loved him?"

"I love him."

Patrons were leaving, shooting them both dirty looks but at the moment Liam probably wouldn't have noticed if someone threw a chair across the room. Killian was alive, or had been until a few days ago. He'd fallen in love, and she'd loved him too- His smile suddenly fell. And he'd lost her. She'd fallen right in front of him, just as he had.

Milah's smile dropped too, and in a moment they both seemed to recall their surroundings. This wasn't some port bar, she was here because she'd been murdered. And Killian was… where? Here somewhere, finally within Hades grasp? Still alive, but now grieving the loss of his love, too?

 _How much could one man be expected to take?_ Liam felt a sudden anger flare up at the unfairness of it all and had an abrupt urge to throw the glass across the room just to watch it shatter. His eyes must have drifted to her glass because Milah looked down too and to his surprise, she picked it up and threw it. It exploded in a shower of ice and shards against the wall and the last few patrons scurried from the bar.

"That felt good," she said, eying another glass further down the bar. She reached for it but Liam grabbed her arm, holding her back.

"Milah don't, it won't help. You'll just cut yourself."

He'd been powerless to help Killian for so long now, forced to watch Hades' torturous visions, never knowing if _this_ were the one that were real. The familiarness of this; being the counterpoint to someone else's temper, keeping someone _else_ safe… it filled a long vacant void and for just a moment his world steadied again.

"I'll clean it up," Milah insisted and he shook his head.

"We all have our jobs down here, and yours will likely begin again earlier than mine. Try to get some sleep." She rolled her eyes and he nodded. "I know, but try anyway."

* * *

In another life Milah doubted she would have been friends with Liam Jones. In fact, in another life, she had made a bet with herself that he very well would have hated her. But here, in this place, somehow 'making the best with what you had' turned out to actually _be_ the best.

It was monotonous down here. The ironic employment, the worry over unfinished business. Aside from that, she found _The Rabbit Hole_ was not that bad of a place to go. It was easier when the proprietor tolerated you, which he usually did her.

It was, unusually, a quiet evening for Milah in the bar. No one suffered the wrath of her fists that evening, not even the former captain of an unlucky crew. Silver's time would come again, soon enough, because it had been _just long enough_ for his face to forget the way her knuckles fit perfectly along the groove of his cheek. For now, though, this evening, she enjoyed the swill that dared to call itself rum in this forsaken place. Or rather, she enjoyed the company of the man who poured said swill.

He was cleaning glassware again tonight, a pastime that Milah was nearly certain had become the habit of centuries more than an actual need for cleanliness. He caught her watching him and raised his eyebrows.

"Don't even think about it," he warned, "it's nearly closing time."

"I was thinking no such thing," she retorted.

"Really? It's not starting to worry you that you're going to lose this week?" he challenged.

"I have two days left," she retorted, "plenty of time. What's my record again?"

"Five."

"I would have won the sixth but Gaston fights dirty," she grumbled.

"Aren't pirates supposed to be able to fight dirty?" Liam feigned shock, "Is Gaston better at fighting dirty than you?"

"I'll have you know I can fight dirtier than most, but he bit my _calf,_ Liam! My _calf!_ There's dirty and then there's _weird_."

Liam chuckled and began tidying the stack of napkins he kept behind the bar. Her wide, innocent eyes greeted him when he discovered a drawing of a mermaid dancing with a dolphin slipped into the stack. "Are there any more in here I should know about?" he asked with a small smile.

Milah shrugged, eyes still innocent. "If there were, there would be four."

"Only four? Slow night."

"Or they're very detailed," she challenged. It had become a weird sort of tradition early on, her doodling on napkins and seeing how long it would take him to discover them all; tucked into the stack or hidden next to the cash register or slipped under the door to his room in the back. Sometimes he caught them before he reached the place she had tucked them to in the stack. Other times she could feel when they caught him unaware. He had a rather weighty glare that she could feel even when she wasn't looking.

The doodles varied in subject matter, from mythical sea creatures to ships in a port to glittering landscapes of places neither had seen in centuries. She had even drawn a kraken once, its arms wrapped tightly around a ship that was not unlike the _Jolly._ Her eyes were just as wide and innocent when he'd discovered that one. _He's a lonely kraken, just wants a hug_ ; the jest was on the tip of her tongue. After all, it had always made Killian laugh.

Liam hadn't laughed. In fact, the way his face had paled in a way she had never seen before ensured she never drew one he could easily find again; no matter _how_ attached to that particular mollusc she was. Without warning he had turned, napkin still in hand and vanished into his room behind the bar, the door making a definitive click behind him. He had returned to the bar 15 minutes later, still pale, but dodging her questions effortlessly, his face a mask of efficiency. She hadn't drawn on one of his napkins for months and to this day she kept a sketchbook specifically for that sea creature in her house, tucked somewhere safe where he would never accidentally stumble across it.

But that was centuries ago now, and today he was in a good mood. She could tell because he put down the cleaning rag an entire three minutes before closing time and poured himself a drink, toasting his congratulations to her for another day without getting banned from his establishment.

She rolled her eyes at his toast but drank to it anyway. "It was a sad, sad year when I lost the bet that I would get banned from the bar fifty times in fifty-two weeks. I only made it to forty-seven, I think, but at least I can say I _tried_. You sure you didn't cheat?"

"Of course I didn't _cheat_ ," Liam retorted indignantly. "I'm not the pirate here. If anything I let you back in sooner than I should have in order to give you the chance to get kicked out again the next week. _You_ ran out of people willing to fight you, which is _not_ my fault."

"What can I say? My captain was a good teacher. Piracy has been successfully ingrained. But I only cheat at cards, dice, and any form of gambling–" she ticked them off on her fingers are she went then shrugged. "Okay, yes, I can see the implication here, but our long-term bet box is _sacred._ Are you certain you didn't let me back in because you _missed_ me?" She leaned over the bar and grinned at him. "Admit it, Jones. Some days you adore me."

He made a half decent attempt at hiding his smile, really, but in the end he just laughed and threw the rag he'd been using to dry glassware at her. "Other days you are quite insufferable," he retorted, "but yes, you certainly liven up eternity."

"And you, Liam, make the insufferable actually sufferable."

* * *

The bar didn't actually open for another half an hour or so when Milah picked the lock on the door and burst in without bothering to knock. She'd always told him that he should invest in a decent lock, but had never actually broken into the bar before. But today was different. Today was special.

"Have you heard anything?" The words spilled out before the door had even closed behind her.

"Good afternoon to you, too, Milah," Liam replied evenly.

"Don't you good-afternoon _me_ , Jones. Have you heard anything?" He didn't even have to respond before she collapsed, dejected onto a bar stool. "Never mind, you're not grinning or wiggling about like an overly excited golden retriever puppy," she accused.

"My apologies?"

"I don't even know if I should be happy or sad about it. Is it 'bad form' to be excited about the idea of him coming _here_? Pretty sure it is, even if it has been three-hundred years."

Liam froze and put down the glass he'd been cleaning abruptly, the sound of it hitting the bar a little too hard the only betrayal of his collected demeanor.

Well, that was ten bucks she'd lost for the bet that when they finally heard news of Killian's arrival he'd break another glass. She'd always planned on springing it on him abruptly to win that bet, but in her mind Killian had always walked into the bar right after her.

"Where did you hear this?" he asked.

"Around, everywhere, nowhere, you know how these things are. But if he were here he would have come looking for you. Unless something's happened. Do you think...? Do you think he's okay? I would suggest perhaps he's gotten lost but for one, you work in the only bar in town and for another, I am half convinced that man could navigate the stars at noon."

"You are right about Killian's navigation skills," Liam interrupted, setting a glass in front of her filled with something that claimed to be rum but absolutely wasn't. She paused to breathe, clenching her fingers around the glass. "I trained him some when he was a boy, but he quickly surpassed my skill."

"You are calm about this. _How are you so calm about this?_ Liam, I may have to break our accord. If something untoward has happened to your brother down here, faces _will_ need to be broken. And possibly Killian's legs if he _is_ wounded and refuses to take time to heal properly."

"If something has happened to Killian and you seek to aid him, you will not be in that fight alone. Sometimes you forget; I was not a pirate but I _am_ his brother and his captain. If any harm has befallen him, you and I would be of one accord."

Milah paused in her tirade, her smile soft but full of affection.. "Liam. sometimes _you_ forget. That you love him so much is one of the many reasons why I...come here so often." She clenched the glass harder, not drinking but glad of something to occupy her hands. "He's fine. Right, Liam?" she asked, glancing up nervously.

"I'm quite convinced that Killian is actually too stubborn to _ever_ die," Liam replied with a tight-lipped smile. "They're just rumors. Killian is fine."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Narrators voice: in fact, he was *not* fine...**_

 _ **You guys keeping track of the timeline okay? I know it may not have felt like it but congratulations, you just lived through a couple centuries in the underworld and you know what that means...**_

 _ **Lot of quiet / passive readers out there on this one. Come say hi. We don't bite!**_


	3. 3 Meanwhile in the dungeon

_**(If you haven't already, be sure to check out the tumblr postings of this story on pirate-owl 's tumblr. There's some fantastic art that goes along with the chapters of this story.)**_

 _ **Parden the dark humor of the title. It made me smile and trust me you're gunna need a smile this week. I mean... what?**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 3: Meanwhile, in the Dungeon (aka a love letter to Killian-whump)**_

"Wake up, Captain, we haven't finished our conversation."

Killian opened his eyes, or tried to anyway. One remained stubbornly swollen shut but the other showed him Hades all too unwelcome face. He hadn't really been asleep, not really. Unconsciousness wasn't the same down here. The body could not fail when there was no body to fail. And yet every inch of his apparently dead body was alive with sensation.

The stinging of blood and sweat in his eyes, the dull throbbing in one leg that had faded slightly from the sharp hot stabbing pain of a few hours ago, days ago? Broken perhaps. Could a dead man break bones?

His ribs argued yes, and every breath was greeted with a stab somewhere just above the hole in his chest that should have made breathing unnecessary. Maybe it was unnecessary. He'd tried not to breathe for a time, telling himself over and over that he no more needed oxygen here then he needed an undamaged heart. Turns out not breathing still didn't feel particularly pleasant.

"Our conversation-" Killian struggled to recall what Hades had been saying but somehow everything after the snapping in his leg was no more than an agonized haze. "Tell the- the proprietor of this hell-hole that the sheets are a bit scratchy."

The clanking of metal was Killian's only warning as Hades jerked the chains, but he tensed regardless the moment before the chains pulled him to his feet by the shackles on his wrists.

"What a pity," Hades whispered, "I was so trying to be a good host, I've given you _so_ much of my attention. And yet you remain... ungrateful-"

Killian didn't respond but to shift slightly, trying to take his weight off his injured leg. Hades noticed, of course, and gave it a kick for good measure. Killian cried out as the dull ache exploded into a sharp agony, collapsing underneath him. He could feel the metal cutting deeper into his forearms as his wrists were left to take the most of his weight. When his breath returned he trained his eye on Hades for a moment, "What do you really want with me?"

Hades released his grip on the chains and as Killian's arms fell, he managed to catch himself on his better leg.

"Simple really, I want to see the light leave your eyes. Well, eye. I want to burn the man that eluded me for nearly three centuries, the man that stole the dark ones from me… I want to see him turned into a useless shuddering mess of hopeless pain. And then, _then_ I want the only people that give a damn about him down here to watch as he limps into the river, just to make the pain stop. That, Captain, is what I want from you." Killian could feel his still heart clench. His lips formed the word 'no', though he bit it off before it escaped. Hades smiled, "Oh dear, did you think they were gone, Captain?"

"Liam had no unfinished business," Killian insisted.

Hades chuckled, "We'll come back around to that sore spot later but for now- what of dear Milah? What of her unfinished business?"

"When Bae passed, I hoped-"

"You _hope_ d, Captain?" Killian clenched his jaw, but it was too late. "What more do I have to do to you? Perhaps we should invite Milah to join you here. You may be able to hold onto hope in the face of your own pain, but could you maintain it in the face of hers?"

A desperate bluff came to Killian's mind and he steadied himself, looking at Hades directly.

"Running out of ideas already, mate? Going to be a long bloody eternity if you're already bored with our little games. Besides, Milah always did think blood was a good look on me." Killian smiled slightly, hoping the effect was more wistful than pained. "I would like to see her again, a familiar face would be a balm indeed."

Hades did not hesitate a moment and Killian's stomach sank. "Really? Tell me, whose face would be more of a balm? Milah's? Or Liam's? I can arrange a reunion."

"Touch them," Killian growled, the facade falling away instantly at the look of glee on Hades face, "and I _will_ find a way to kill you."

Hades laughed, "Why does everyone say that? You can't kill me. I'm _Hades_. This, this _is_ death."

"Then I'll find what's worse, and I'll do that to you." Desperate to return Hades' attention to himself, Killian lunged forward, ignoring the pain lancing through his leg and buried his hook into Hades' chest. Hades raised his eyebrows and pulled the hook roughly from Killian's brace, not hesitating a moment before turning the weapon on its owner. He was rewarded with a guttural cry as he pressed the tip slowly into the wound left by Excalibur, twisting it to tug Killian towards him.

"I think we should test the strength of that threat, Captain."

Then he was gone and the chains went slack, finally allowing Killian to collapse to the floor, muscles trembling, wishing for nothing more than the relief of unconsciousness until it was finally over.

* * *

Liam rubbed his hand absentmindedly across his arm. The mark made by the Dreamshade on his arm had never entirely faded and it burned sometimes with remembered pain. It wasn't bad, not like it had been during the first several years, but it was still annoying. Milah claimed it made him grumpy, which was how she always knew when it was bothering him. She had a knack for distracting him, although half the time that was by making him break up another fight.

But Milah wasn't here yet. The bar wasn't yet open, and she would be later than usual if she found any more interesting rumors about the living people who were said to be running around the Underworld.

"Hello, Liam. It's been a long time." Liam wheeled, all thoughts of Dreamshade gone. Hades, Lord of the Underworld, was standing at the bar. He'd not seen Hades since- he resisted a shudder, _Hell if he was going to remind Hades of that._

"Not nearly long enough," Liam said, forcing himself to calm down from the surprise. Nothing would be gained by an emotional reaction. "What are you doing here, Hades? Our bargain was a long time ago and we both held up our end."

"Yes," Hades said. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, even if… well… I'm not here about that. Well, indirectly, I am, I suppose. I'm here about Killian Jones. The brother you would do _anything_ for, isn't that right?"

"Is Killian here?" Liam asked, the words slipping out before he could consider whether it was wise to let Hades hear the desperation in his voice. Hope and fear warred for dominance. He had wanted to see Killian again for so long, but he knew what Hades might do to his brother, had seen it so many times and in so many ways. He tried to hide that fear from his face so he wouldn't give Hades ideas. Hades was creative enough without reminders. "I was hop-" he trailed off, catching himself before he spoke the forbidden word. "I had thought he might have moved on. He had three centuries." That was a long time to sort out his Unfinished Business, but it was also a long time to gather business that could be left unfinished.

He had wanted Killian out of Hades' reach so badly, had kept that tiny spark of forbidden hope that Killian would not linger in the Underworld, would never be subjected to any of the torments he had been.

"You of all people should know three centuries isn't always enough," Hades pointed out. "The real question is: How far would _you_ go to help him?"

"I think you know the answer to that," Liam said. "Where is he? How can I help him?"

"Don't worry about the where," Hades said with a small smile. "I'll be more than happy to take you to him. I can be helpful like that."

Liam nodded, trying not to allow the images from nearly three centuries before to overtake his mind, still painfully sharp after all these years.

"And as for what you can do for him," Hades smiled, a cruel smile, "the choice is entirely yours. Stay here, in your mediocre little afterlife, leaving your dear little brother all alome. Or come with me, join him in my dungeons." Liam glanced away, knowing his face betrayed his dread, and hating that. "I promise nothing, of course." Hades continued, "But there's always the chance you can convince me to hurt you instead of him. Isn't that what you do, Captain?"

"You bastard," Liam snarled. "Just take me to my brother."

It wasn't until he was descending into the tunnels below that Liam realized the bar was supposed to open soon. Milah would be there, likely wondering what had happened to him. He probably should have left a note for her but he couldn't think what he should have said. All he knew was that he wouldn't leave Killian to suffer alone. He _couldn't_.

She would understand.

* * *

When Hades returned he was alone, and it was all Killian could do to hide the relief on his face. An empty bluff, like his own. Liam and Milah were long gone from this place or Hades would have used them against him by now.

"I have a present for you, Captain," Hades said, squatting in front of where Killian had managed to prop himself up against the wall. "Should be here any moment-"

"And here I thought the gift was your momentary absence," Killian retorted.

"Oh, but I had to leave to get your present," Hades taunted.

"Killian?" Killian's eyes snapped up at the familiar voice and what was left of his battered heart shattered. "What the hell did Hades do to you, little brother?"

 _No, impossible. Another trick._

"Li- Liam- You're _here?"_ his voice betrayed him. Faced with Liam suddenly he was ten years old again and desperately afraid of the dark. "Is this a bloody trick?" But Liam's eyes held a familiar combination of fury and compassion that Hades couldn't possibly fake.

"I'm here, Killian. It's no trick. I heard rumors, but I didn't believe them- I just… Killian, I should have come to you sooner." Liam's voice was hardly above a whisper, his breath stolen from him the moment he entered the room and saw the state of his little brother.

"I am sorry, brother," Killian said, "It's my fault he brought you down here. I… I never did learn to keep my coin close and my mouth shut."

"It's not your fault, Killian-" Liam started, moving towards Killian but pausing when Hades appeared abruptly in front of him, between him and Killian.

"Actually, it rather is his fault," Hades taunted, "He was the one so _hopeful_ that you had moved on. Does he know why you haven't, I wonder? Tell you what, I'll let you two catch up. When I come back, we can have some more _fun_." Hades vanished and Liam wasted no time in hurrying to Killian's side and kneeling next to him. He reached for Killian but hesitated, blood stained nearly every inch of skin and he could find no place for a comforting touch that wouldn't aggravate _something._

"I know why, brother," Killian said bitterly, "because the game is _rigged_. Can you find your way topside again? If I keep the demon distracted?"

"I'm not leaving you, Killian," Liam retorted in surprise. "That monster tortured you. I'm not about to abandon you to him now. We escape together, as we have before. Can you walk?"

Killian pushed himself away from the wall and Liam moved forward instantly to support him, trying his best not to notice Killian's hiss of pain as Liam draped his arm over his shoulders. For a moment Killian went a little green, looking as seasick as the first time they'd gone out on rough waters. Liam paused to let him gather himself, letting Killian lean against him and catch his breath. Eventually he nodded his readiness and Liam stepped forward.

For the first time in his life Liam had no plan of action. He didn't know where he was going, where he could possibly hope to hide his little brother from Hades himself down here, but he just knew that he had to get Killian _out_ , had to get Killian away. If he could hide him just long enough to determine what unfinished business held Killian trapped here, Killian could move on, could escape Hades' reach. Consequences be damned.

Killian's leg was bent at a strange angle and Liam attempted to keep the weight off of it as they moved down the cavern but the extra support just made Killian gasp and clutch at his ribs. His breathing came hard and with a rattle that Liam had never before heard but from a man who lay dying. It was both horrifying and reassuring to remember that Killian couldn't die _again_ , not here. The hallway seemed to extend forever, step by step. He could feel Killian shaking from the exertion, every movement aggravating a dozen wounds.

"Almost there-" he lied, "come on, Killian, we're almost-"

A low snarling from the corridor ahead made Liam freeze in place and three pairs of red eyes appeared at the end of the hall. Killian swayed against him, struggling to stay upright. Killian tried to pull away from Liam to stand on his own. "We can't both…" he broke off with gasp as he put too much weight on his broken leg. "You can get away, Liam." he managed a weak smile. "Just go. I'll slow the beast…"

"Not a chance," Liam interrupted him. He slid his arm around Killian again.

"And just where do you think you are going?" Killian froze at Hades voice from behind them, his whole body seeming to shrink into itself. Liam stepped back, a well-practiced motion placing him between Killian and Hades immediately.

"Just… going for a stroll," Killian grumbled, "Liam tells me the woods are slightly less hideous this time of century-" "

"Leave him alone, Hades," Liam interrupted, "The escape was my idea. Killian just went along with it."

"Don't," Killian warned, his voice surprisingly strong. "I'm no longer a child, Liam, you needn't protect me from the monsters anymore."

"How touching," Hades retorted, his face the picture of boredom. "I hope you both realize how truly little I care whose idea it was. But I do believe your brother." Hades smirked at Killian and Liam's blood went cold- "You wouldn't have been in any position to try if it weren't for his interference. He tried to save you with absolutely no thought about how it would slow down his own escape. Very sweet of him. And it suggests that the very best way to punish his defiance is through _you_." A wicked smile grew across Hades face and Liam tensed. "Cerberus… Fetch."

* * *

One of the very few benefits of working at a busy intersection all day, one Milah had never truly appreciated until now, was that people loved to talk. Really there wasn't much else to do down here anyway. She went in for her shift that morning with only the barest of the persistent rumors, that Killian Jones was down here. Now, she'd heard just about every variation of rumor there could possibly be. His lover, wearing red leather and hair the color of the sunlight not seen for far too long, was here to rescue him; said woman had been the one to kill him and was here to make sure he _stayed_ dead; that she was actually _living_ and _breathing_ and had brought more of her ilk with her. Ludicrous, all of it, and yet not completely outside the realm of possibility.

So, after her shift, instead of going to _The Rabbit Hole_ as she normally would have, Milah decided to do a bit of recon. She wanted answers for herself and it seemed that the only way to get any of those was through an original source.

It wasn't that difficult to find the woman. There was a certain subtle glow about her that indicated life, so small that only those who had endured this place as long as she had could tell it for what it was. That and red leather wasn't a common occurrence here. It was a bit too cheerful.

Unfortunately she had to face the diner and its despicable proprietor. Though she was blind, Milah shivered as the witch turned her nose in her direction, her grin devious, and held out a cup of coffee. "For the shepherd who tends to such a...delicious flock."

Milah still felt the crawl along her spine as she slid into the empty bench across from the woman of rumor. Not even the warmth seeping from ceramic into her hands could calm the chill settling into her bones. But then again, unlike everyone else, she'd always found this place to be freezing.

"So, you're new here." Milah started, when the woman looked up at her. "And if the rumors are true, you're _alive._ I'd watch your various…" Milah trailed off as she wiggled her fingers in the woman's general direction, " _Everything,_ if I were you. You'd be surprised what you're worth on the black market here."

To her credit the woman just looked her over with a vaguely incredulous expression. "Thanks, I think. I'll keep that in mind."

Normally she would do something to keep her hands occupied as she spoke. Right now the only thing she _could_ do was wrap her hands around the mug of coffee. "Rumor hasn't been quite clear as to _why_ you're here. Some have said you're here to...rescue someone. Others say it's because you've killed him and wish to make sure he stays that way."

"What does that matter to you?" Emma replied, one eyebrow lifting.

Milah shrugged, as though the subject held little interest to her. "I like following the rumors around here, gives me something to do. Being dead is tedious. Tell me a story and maybe I can help you in return."

"Unless you can help me find Killian Jones, I don't think you can help me."

"Killian Jones, you mean Milah's captain?"

Emma's eyes shot up, "You know him?"

"I know _her_."

"Can you tell me where to find her?"

Milah laughed, "Why the hell would she want to help you? Didn't you steal her lover?"

"She's dead," Emma retorted tersely, "I hardly think-" Emma let out a slow breath. "Milah might not want to help me, and that's her right, but I think at the very least, she'd want to help Killian, even if that meant working with me."

"Are you so sure about that?"

Emma thought for a moment before one shoulder lifted slightly. "Or maybe she'll go save him on her own. She loved him too and that's the important part. She isn't going to want anything to happen to him."

"Right you are." Milah leaned forward, her eyes boring hard into green, her voice tinged with a hint of pride, the sort she hadn't quite felt since her heart beat. "I might be dead, but I can still make lives hell if someone hurts my captain."

" _You're_ Milah?" Emma's eyes flickered briefly in appraisal, the same way Milah's had not long ago. She shifted in her seat, not enjoying being taken by surprise as she had. "You could have said something sooner."

Milah shrugged and finally took a sip of her coffee as she leaned back. "Where would the fun in that be? And how else was I supposed to figure out who you really are?" She lowered her coffee cup and arched a brow. "Your coming for him has improved my opinion of you if that matters any." She wasn't sure why it should. "I admit, you had me at 'help Killian.' So, Green-Eyes, what assistance may I be to you in the rescuing of my captain?" There was a fiery look in her eyes, as though she was daring Emma to challenge the title which had such a flavor of endearment.

"It's Emma," she replied bluntly.

"Well, it's nice, if not somewhat awkward, to meet you." Milah raised her mug in greeting before taking another sip. It was a pity the blind witch made her skin crawl. The coffee was _almost_ enough to have her risk coming back here more frequently.

"Trust me, the feeling, awkwardness and all, is mutual."

"Well, fortunately for us both, I doubt this could get much more awkward." Milah was grateful for that, at least. She handled emotions like that about as well as she did compliments. Which truthfully, was not very well. She'd only just stopped getting the urge to sock Liam on the shoulder whenever he said something nice about her a few decades ago.

"I really wasn't sure you'd even want to help me, so I didn't get past that part of the plan really. How's that opinion of me now?" Emma raised a shoulder, hands tucked beneath the table. She looked as Milah felt, but Milah was a little better at hiding things from most people.

"Are you referring to charging into danger without much of a plan but one goal in mind? Or to the whispers I've heard about why he's here?" To be honest, Milah wasn't sure _what_ to do with those rumors. "I respect the first but since I don't have all the details on the second, I'm still undecided on whether or not I'll shove you off the dock after we get us a pirate." Milah thought that Emma seemed trustworthy enough, but still, if this woman hurt Killian Milah resolved then and there to become a poltergeist just to make her life miserable.

"I'm not sure what whispers you've heard, but it's… complicated. I'd be more than happy to explain once we have a little more time. Then maybe you can decide my fate." Emma sighed in frustration. "We've split up and looked all over, and we can't seem to find him anywhere. I _know_ he's here, I can feel it. I just don't know _where._ I can only guess that since he hasn't come to see you, me, or anyone else he might know here, that he's trapped and unable to get to us."

"We were hoping the rumors weren't true," Milah admitted, "He really is here?"

"We?"

"Liam will want to help, of course."

"Right now, I'm pretty sure Hades has Killian somewhere, but the message was pretty garbled. I don't know where he is, only that he's hurting."

"You've heard from him? And he's with _Hades?_ Not to alarm you but I suggest we hurry. Liam will know where to get started. I'm fairly certain he had all the maps memorized by his second week here."

"I'll follow your lead," Emma agreed, eyes brightening at the prospect of a _plan_. "You seem to know Liam well enough. He might be more open to talking to you than to me. And… I'm really sorry about the whole 'she's dead' comment."

"What are you sorry for? I have been for centuries. I'm likely a literal bag of bones at this point. Assuming, of course, my shroud hasn't completely disintegrated or drifted away by now." A part of her hoped she'd gotten that, and a burial at sea.

"Is it… normal to talk about such morbid things down here?" Emma asked, the bell of the diner sounding decidedly more eerie behind them then she remembered from Storybrooke.

"In the early years people tend to still be a little…sensitive about the issue," Milah replied, "But when you've been here for as long as I have, you've either let go of that completely or are really only bitter about how you died. I am the latter, though trying to kill Rumplestiltskin now would probably damage my chances of seeing Baelfire again.

"You've seen Ne- Baelfire? I'm guessing he left out a few things…"

"He told me that he has a son," Milah said, her face brightening, "can you imagine-"

"Quite well, actually-" Emma replied and Milah looked over at her. "But we need to hurry, so let's file all that away for the uncomfortable conversation I'm sure we'll get to have later."

"Not likely, green-eyes," Milah interrupted. "I may be dead but I _can_ still walk and talk all at the same time."

Emma sighed, _might as well get it out of the way now._ "His son's name is Henry," she said quickly. _Just like ripping off a bandaid._ "I'm his mother."

Milah stopped abruptly and turned to face Emma. Apparently walking and talking was fine, but walking and talking and learning you were talking to your son's ex was not.

"So… you've been with my former lover… and my son? Is that right?"

Emma opened her mouth and closed it again, finally just shrugging. "Remember when you said you could walk and talk, let's … let's do that."

Milah followed her, of course, because that's apparently how it was now. But still, the burning question still remained. "Is he...I mean...is he as beautiful as I imagine?"

"Beautiful?" Emma asked, dumbfounded, "I mean… I guess you could- I mean, I never really- Do we really have to talk about Baelfire-"

"What the hell? No, of course not, I mean my grandchild, you fool woman." Milah wrinkled her nose. "This is awkward enough without the compare and contrast between...certain people."

"Oh," there was obvious relief in Emma's voice , "Henry- He's amazing really. Stubborn and frustrating sometimes but," she chuckled. "Do you know he demanded to come down here with me? Told me if I left him behind he'd find a way himself."

Milah's eyes sparkled in approval, try as she might to avoid that. "Do you think, I mean once we've rescued Killian- Could I meet him?"

"Of course," Emma replied.

Milah grinned widely at her then stopped, hesitating outside the door of the bar. "This is it, I suggest you leave any… rumors of the cause of Killian's demise out of your story. Liam might even be more protective of my captain than I am. Though I'm sure he would warm up to you after a few years." She pushed the door in, and found it locked. She glanced at her watch. It was a full thirty minutes past opening time. A quiet dread settled instantly into the pit of her stomach.

She had the door open in only a few moments (she _had_ warned him that lock was rubbish.) "Liam? _Liam!_ Where are you? Are you kidding me?" She glanced at Emma, "I guess we rummage. You know, go through every single thing he owns and put it all back slightly crooked," Milah tried to laugh but the knot in her stomach just grew tighter as she stuck her head into the back room to ensure he wasn't hiding back there.

"What are you looking for?" Emma asked as Milah started opening drawers seemingly at random.

"Maps," Milah replied, "the man has maps of everything. He just can't help-"

Milah stopped as she opened one of the drawers in her search, hands poised in the air. It was full, nearly to the brim, of neatly stacked bar napkins. She didn't have to rifle to realize what they were, the drawings she'd done over the centuries that she'd thought he would have thrown away, all staring back up at her.

"What is it?" Emma asked.

Milah jerked, offering a shaky smile before carefully closing the drawer and resuming her search. "Ah, it's nothing. Alright, here we go, maps, charts, dear heavens he even has building layouts. This man is meticulous. Ah, here's some maps of the forest…"

"We can't just go searching at random," Emma sighed, "Maybe you know more than you think? When you first… arrived… where did you go? Were you just automatically thrown into a life here, or was there… I don't know, some sort of in-processing? Hades doesn't seem like the type to just leave his victims unattended."

"Sort of? We were in a cavern and then some tunnels. And then there was the forest. Basically we were told our afterlives would suck forever and that any ounce of the h-word was considered the highest of contraband. I remember the general area but I've never gone back. Too much growling echoing against the stone there."

"Yeah, well," Emma said, "sounds like the right place."

"I always thought Hades would just… I don't know, make Killian a wharf master who watched over ships he'd never be able to sail. Taunt him with an ocean that would kill him. He loves irony but why would he-"

"That's a good idea." Milah and Emma spun and found Hades himself leaning against one of the tables in the bar. "Maybe I _will_ give him that job, once I finish ridding him of that stubborn hope he brought with him. Thanks for your suggestion."

"Be prepared for a long wait, _Hades._ " Milah spat, "He will keep his hope just to _spite_ you. He was the only one I'd ever met nearly as stubborn as I, and that was when I was alive."

"Yes, you were stubborn. But now you are a crossing guard. Everyone loses hope in the Underworld. Even your dear Killian Jones. I have all the time in the world to break him. How much pain do you really think he can endure? "

"You do know it is not _hope_ that causes a good man to turn against his king, don't you, your _majesty?"_ Milah snapped. "If you take away too much from him he will turn on you. And even if you win in the end, it wouldn't be much fun ruling over nothing but the rubble I'd leave behind."

"You too? Seriously? It's like this kind of stubborn alive-ness is catching. I already have a plan for how to break Killian. How exactly do _you_ intend to burn down the Underworld?" Milah opened her mouth to reply but Hades waved his hand dismissively, "Second thought, I really don't care. That's not why I'm here." He turned to Emma. "You see, since _you_ insist on running around my world, trying to retrieve dead souls, and generally spreading _hope_ , I'm here to greet you properly. With a gift." He pulled out a hook, streaked with crimson blood and Emma blanched.

"What does a bloodied hunk of metal have to do with anything?" Milah asked, refusing to make the connection that was insistently tugging at her mind.

"I'm sure Emma can enlighten us on the significance of the bloodied _hook_."

"What the hell did you do to him?" Emma asked.

"If you leave now, I will allow it," Hades offered, "Go. Take your family. Obviously Milah will remain, but stay, and you will all _hang_ with your captain."

"If you think _showing_ me that you're hurting him is going to make me turn and leave, you're wrong," Emma growled.

Hades grinned, "Hang with your captain it is. Better hurry," he taunted, "you may already be too late."

* * *

 **a/n : hello out thereeeeeee? Posting into the void with this one. Thanks so much to those of you who _do_ comment, it means the world to us to know that some people are reading! **

**Oh Hades you little fiend. You're so deliciously awful. You are missed :P**


	4. 4 Meanwhile in the Dungeon part 2

_**Chapter 4 - Meanwhile in the Dungeon part 2 (aka: another love letter to Killian-whump)**_

When the smoke cleared Liam saw they were back in the caverns. Deeper perhaps. The sound of water assaulted him, the calming effect of the sound gone centuries ago leaving behind only knowing fear of what that water could mean. Oblivion.

The water held his attention for only a moment before a cry of pain from Killian echoed across the chamber. Hades was dragging Killian toward the water by a fist full of hair. Chains held Killian bound and, with a flick of Hades' fingers, the chains tightened and pulled taught. Killian groaned as they hauled him off the ground inch by inch, crushing broken ribs and open wounds alike.

Liam surged forward towards Hades but he didn't make it far. His arm wrenched behind him as the shackle on his wrist made itself known to him via a sharp pain at his shoulder. "Leave him alone, you bastard!" Liam cried, straining against the shackle, heedless of the tearing in his joint. That didn't matter. None of it did. None of it, save for Killian.

"And why would I do that?" Hades asked with what appeared to be genuine amusement on his face.

"Liam, please-" Killian begged, seeing the look of angry determination in Liam's eyes. His voice was barely audible and Liam strained to hear. "Stay out of this," Killian pleaded breathlessly, his voice shaking. "You don't have to-"

"I don't," Liam agreed. "But this is all I can do to protect you."

"No," Killian whispered, "For once in your damn life- Let me protect _you_."

"You know I can't do that, Killian," Liam practically growled in frustration. "You know I've _never_ been able to do that." Liam turned to Hades who watched them intently, as though watching a particularly amusing jester making a fool of himself.

The path forward was clear, and the fear faded in the familiarity of this. It had been centuries, but distracting a captain from harming his little brother was a well-honed skill. "You brought me here to hurt Killian," Liam reminded Hades, "and having me as a spectator isn't going to do that."

"Are you so certain of that?" Hades taunted. He pulled the hook from the end of Killian's brace. Killian closed his eyes, waiting for the accustomed pain that had always followed; none came. "I wonder how many people you've stabbed with this?" Hades asked Killian conversationally. "In the course of three hundred years of piracy, it has to be a lot, right? Dozens?" Killian looked away without answering. "Hundreds?" Hades suggested.

Hades turned suddenly, burying the hook into Liam instead. Pain flared in his chest, so suddenly that he couldn't bite back the cry of agony. The sick feeling of cold metal slicing so easily into hot flesh was nearly enough to make him forget where he was, who was-

Liam was distracted from his own pain by another sound, this time an anguished cry torn from Killian's throat. "No! No no no! Leave him alone!"

Liam tried to smile reassuringly through the tearing of muscle. He wasn't sure if he succeeded. "It's alright, Killian," he insisted anyway, although his voice was tight with pain. He could hear it, doubtless Killian could too.

His every instinct screamed at him to retreat, to pull away from Hades, to scuttle the far end of the shackle around his wrist and put as much distance between himself and the monster as possible. But Liam had known men like Hades all his life. Cruelty and a short attention span combined; there was no reasoning with such men. Only distracting them. And he couldn't let Hades hurt Killian. Not any more than he already had.

"I can see why you like the hook," Hades commented conversationally, sparing a glance back at Killian. "You can really just-" Hades grasped the base of the hook, twisting back and forth with a grin of malice, "just get to the heart of someone this way." Liam clenched his jaw, a hiss of pain the only sound he allowed past his lips despite the agony.

The metal in his chest was frighteningly cold, even after the few moments that Liam's hot blood had been pouring from the gaping wound around it. It was like he could feel the icy tip of the hook - _Killian's hook -_ rooting around between his ribs and threatening to shatter his heart. The look in Killian's eyes wasn't any better than the pain in Liam's chest, and he had to look away, couldn't bear to see that much guilt and agony in his little brother's pitiful gaze.

Liam wasn't sure when he had closed his eyes but when he opened them again, Hades had released his grip on the hook, leaving it protruding grotesquely from his body as he returned his attention to Killian. He was saying something under his breath to Killian and his little brother's face contorted in fear.

"No… don't-" Killian whimpered.

Anger rose then and Liam spat towards Hades to get his attention. Liam had only a few seconds to prepare himself before Hades was on him again, ripping the hook free of his chest, the tearing of muscle and flesh as the tip of the hook caught and sliced maliciously on its exit. He tried to brace himself, to not make a sound, but he couldn't choke back his anguished cry.

He wasn't sure how long he drifted, lost in a haze of agony, when Killian's voice pulled him back to reality. Only, that couldn't be right. Killian didn't beg. Ever. He'd learned centuries ago, as Liam had, that begging didn't help. Was far more likely to make things worse. But here they were and there was a note of desperation in Killian's voice that Liam had never heard there before.

"Please! Just let him go," Killian begged, "I'm the one you wanted. Just let Liam go."

"Did you know he didn't beg _once_ before you came down here?" Hades asked Liam tauntingly. "I'm rather pleased with the effect that hurting you is having on him. I was altogether prepared to send you back to the surface if necessary." Hades glanced over at Killian and Liam could just barely see the vindictive smile on his face. "But as it is, I'm not sure I'm going to have to lay another finger on Killian at all. I get so much better results hurting his brother."

Liam wasn't certain when he had fallen to his knees but he found he deeply disliked looking _up_ at Hades. He moved slowly, breathing in short shallow breaths that still sent fresh darts of pain radiating from the open wounds as his chest rose and fell. He locked his shaky knees and met Hades gaze with what he hoped was more his brother's look of defiant anger then the fear and pain that was at the forefront of his mind at the moment. He didn't look at Killian. He couldn't.

"I'm going to enjoy watching him break," Hades whispered when Liam regained his footing. "Just as you did." He raked the hook slowly across Liam's chest, scoring a deep line of red. Liam didn't make a sound, but his back arched in silent agony as Hades decorated his skin with lines of red. The hook caught on the edge of the deeper wound it had made when Hades had ripped it free, and Liam gave a strangled cry as the hook tore at already gouged flesh. Blood dripped down his chest, staining his skin, his clothes, the ground as it pooled beneath him but Liam did not fall to his knees again. He wouldn't make Killian watch him fall. Not so long as he could find the strength to stand.

"No," Killian whispered again. "You've made your point. You want me to beg? I'll beg. _Please_ , don't hurt him anymore."

"Only if you do something for me, Captain." Liam looked up but Hades had already made his way closer to Killian leaning close so that Liam couldn't catch the words that passed between them.

"If you don't want me to break him, you do it first," Hades whispered in Killian's ear.

"What?" Killian hissed.

Hades leaned closer still, "I have a theory that you can break your brother in far less time than I can. And you wouldn't even have to make such a mess."

"Don't, Killian-" Liam called, "whatever he's telling you, whatever he wants-" Hades rolled his eyes and moved back to Liam. The hook flew, a flash of silver and then pain exploding along his left jaw and cheek. The crunch of bone under his eye nearly made him sick. He crumpled to his hands and knees, shaking his head in a futile attempt to clear the points of light dancing behind his eyes. When he could see again Hades was at Killian's side once more.

"Do it, _Hook,"_ Hades whispered. "Show me how to break your brother and perhaps I'll give you a reprieve." Hades backed away and watched Killian carefully. Liam was still dazed from the blow but struggled to his knees regardless, steeling himself against the next.

There was silence for a moment and Hades thought he might refuse, but then Killian took a breath and spoke.

"I wish you'd left instead of father," Killian said finally, "He'd have been able to take care of me."

Liam rocked backwards as though struck. "Killian… I _tried_. You don't… you don't mean that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Killian spat back. "Look at where we are, brother! Look at what's become of me!" Killian's head fell forward in exhaustion. A look of glee crossed Hades face as Liam sank the rest of the way to the floor, a look of horror and guilt plain on his face.

"Well, that _was_ fun," Hades said, tossing the bloody hook from one hand to the other. "I'll give you boys some time to…" he chuckled, "discuss this. After all you are not the only ones I mean to strip of hope today."

He left Killian's side and advanced on Liam, "Don't try to interfere. If you interfere, your brother falls to the river. Well, faster than he otherwise would." Hades vanished and for a moment all was quiet.

"Thought he'd never leave," Killian murmured.

"What the devil _was_ _that_ about?" Liam asked, pulling himself painfully to his feet again. "I'm glad as you that he's gone but-" he lifted his shackled arm and tugged at it again. "He'll be back, Killian, and if he thinks he's broken you it's only a matter of time before he drops you into the river."

"Right pocket," Killian murmured. Liam stepped forward and instantly the chains slackened, sending Killian a few inches closer to the water. Killian groaned at the movement, his head still hanging limp with exhaustion. " _Your_ right pocket," Killian clarified, finally looking up. There was a spark of amusement in his good eye and Liam felt relief loosening the knot in his stomach. Not so broken as Hades had thought.

He fished into his right pocket and pulled out a set of lockpicks that he was certain had _not_ been there when he left the bar. "How-"

"Still have a trick or two left in me," Killian replied, "Hurry-"

Liam set to work on the shackle, and within a few moments it hit the ground. He took another step towards Killian to free him as well but the chains groaned again, dipping Killian even closer to the water. Liam froze, horrified and the chains grew taught again. He was close enough to see how Killian trembled, to hear the raspy breaths that he forced past constricted lungs. To be so close to Killian while he was in pain and to be unable to go to him was a worse torment than anything Hades had come up with before. But it seemed that Hades' order to not interfere carried a magical imperative. Every step closer to Killian was a step closer to his oblivion.

"Killian-" Liam's heart clenched as he realized that Killian had never intended them both to escape together.

"I know," Killian affirmed his unspoken fear, " _You_ must go, Liam. There's a woman from above. She's here, somewhere, looking for me- Emma Swan. You must find her."

"No. Killian, please," Liam begged, "don't ask me to leave. Ask anything else, _anything else._ I can't just _leave_ you to suffer alone." Liam had been prepared to refuse to leave, to insist that he would sit right here until Hades returned, if necessary, to demand that they leave this cavern together or not at all. He _hadn't_ been prepared for Killian to offer him a _plan-_ A seed of suspicion nagged at the back of his mind. Was this, too, a trick? Killian's way of forcing his brother to leave this damned place without him?

"Please, brother-"

"How can you even know that this woman is here?" Liam asked.

"She's here," Killian insisted, "I can feel it. Trust me. Find Swan."

 _Trust me?_

It was not Killian he didn't trust. What if Killian fell? What if Killian ended his existence, alone and anguished, because Liam wasn't fast enough? The fear was near paralyzing and Liam wanted desperately to refuse. He knew he would never forgive himself if Killian were lost because he'd left his side. But if there were a chance… any chance at all to save him and he didn't take it...

"If you truly believe she can save you…" Liam watched Killian carefully and saw Killian's small nod of assent. "I hope she can, because I can't, not this time." _The first step away is the hardest_ , he told himself, fighting against the paralyzing fear. _Just go, just hurry._ But he paused and turned back before leaving the cavern. "I love you, Killian," he called, "I _will_ come back for you."

He was gone before Killian could respond, knowing if he heard his brother's reply, he might never leave.

* * *

Liam's maps were accurate, as far as Emma could tell, though when she mentioned this out loud it prompted a full throated laugh from Milah. ("Of _course_ they're accurate!") But it was slow going. Half the passageways seemed to lead to dead ends, some looped back on themselves, some were marked with unpleasant looking symbols that Emma could only assume were traps of some variety. She wasn't sure of their nature and had no intention of finding out. Every turn had to be carefully confirmed on three different charts to ensure they didn't take a fatal wrong turn.

Their progress was agonizingly slow and it was all Emma could do not to tear the maps to pieces and just charge down the nearest corridor. Finally they reached a fork in the road that the map was not clear on and Milah glanced over at Emma.

"Split up?" Emma asked.

"Liam would tell me that was a terrible idea-"

"Got a better one?"

Milah took another look at the map, wishing she had paid more attention when Liam had taught her to read these notations, rather than admiring the way his brow furrowed as he made them. Finally she pointed at the map.

"If it's the right way it will split again into three passages a little further down," she said. "We each go 30 paces down one passage and then return here. If one of us sees the correct branching pattern we go that way. If we still can't tell after 30 paces we still meet back here and pick one together."

"Be careful," Emma warned, and Milah grinned at her.

"Me? You're the one with a beating heart to protect."

Emma started down her passage but hadn't made it more than 20 paces before she heard footsteps from ahead. Ducking into a shadowed alcove she listened carefully, someone was in a hurry-

The sound of running grew nearer and Emma watched the approaching figure from the shadows as he passed under the lamp, trying to decide if she should reveal herself. Under the light of the lamp she saw blood soaked the man's shirt and his face was starting to bruise under one eye, the wounds looked fresh and the bruises would surely color brilliantly over the next few hours. Taking a chance that someone in such a state was more likely to help than hinder she stepped out of the shadows.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked abruptly. The man nearly ran into her and Emma took a step back.

"This may sound like a strange question, but are you Emma Swan?" Emma's eyebrows lifted and he hurried on. "Please, tell me you are, we don't have much time."

"Yes… I'm Emma," she said hesitantly. "Who are you?"

"My name is Liam Jones. My brother needs your help."

"You know where Killian is-" she started before suspicion rose again in her mind. It could be another of Hades traps, meant to lead her away from Killian. If it _was_ Liam, Milah would know, "Follow me-" Emma ordered and Liam hesitated.

"There's no time- Emma, please-"

"If you really are Killian's brother then you'll understand I can't risk letting an enemy lead me away from him right now."

Liam nodded and Emma indicated the direction she'd come from, "After you-"

When they reached the place where she was to meet Milah, she had not yet returned.

"Wait here," Emma told the man, and hurried down the passage Milah had taken. She ran into the woman not much farther down and Milah started but Emma cut her off.

"There's a man back at the rendezvous point, he says his name is Liam and he knows where Killian is. I had to be sure-"

Milah nodded and hurried back toward the fork. When she saw the man ahead she put on a burst of speed that left Emma in the dust.

"Where the _hell_ have you been?!" she cried, "Unless you've moved on, you stupid man, you're not allowed to leave me alone down here! Do you have any idea how _worried_ I w- You're bleeding. Liam, why are you bleeding?"

"You know I would never leave you alone down here unless it was for Killian," Liam replied gently. "Hades dragged me down to the dungeons to see him. Not that I resisted. I know where he is but we don't have much time."

"So we can get to him?" Emma broke in. "Where is he?"

"Hades' dungeon, the demon has him suspended over the River of Lost Souls. If we don't hurry-" Liam cut himself off, unwilling to even imagine... "We have to get back now. I know Milah can fight. Can you?"

"I can hold my own," Emma replied and Milah smirked.

"Would Killian _ever_ fall for someone who _couldn't_ kick his butt?" Her attempt to lighten the mood didn't remove the scowl from Liam's face in the slightest and it was that more than anything else that terrified her. His face was a mask of worry and Milah shuddered. Whatever Hades had done to Killian, it was _bad_ to have Liam in such a state.

With Liam's guidance they no longer had to check the map every few paces, Liam sprinted through the tunnels, despite his injuries with Milah and Emma close on his heels.

When they entered the cavern Emma couldn't help the cry that escaped her.

"Killian!" He didn't so much as raise his head at her voice and her blood ran cold.

"There's some magic," Liam warned, "whenever I moved closer to him it sped his descent into the cursed waters. Perhaps the magic will not prevent you from reaching him in time. I'll wait outside, to distract Hades should he return."

Milah shook her head, "Not alone you won't. You go on, Emma. If Hades returns, two of us will be able to distract him longer than one. Besides, of the three of us, I am the most expendable."

"No one is expendable here," Emma retorted. "You both be careful."

"Don't look down," Milah warned and Emma nodded turning back towards Killian.

 _Don't look down. Yeah, right…_ The river swirled beneath her, nothing more than a thin walkway between herself and the grasping souls below. She could swear some of them were reaching for her-

The sound of clanking chains recaptured her attention and she realized with horror that Killian was slowly moving toward the water.

 _Screw this-_

She ran, sprinting across the rest of the distance and grabbing Killian just as he dipped below the platform. He cried out as she pulled him along the grating and as much as the sound pained her, at least it meant he was still _here_.

"Emma?" his voice was barely a whisper and his head fell onto her shoulder.

"Oh, Killian-" she held him tight, clinging to him harder than she probably should have to reassure herself he was still here. "You're going to be okay, I've got you."

"I told you to let me go. You shouldn't be here, nobody should."

"I never listen," she tried to smile but she could feel the hot tears in her eyes threatening to fall. He looked... terrible. She'd never seen him this utterly exhausted, or this covered in blood and bruises, and she held him tighter. But then the smallest of smiles appeared on his face.

"You're impossible," he chuckled.

"And you love me for it."

He nodded, his head falling back to her shoulder, "Aye, love, I do."

"We have to get out of here, Killian, before Hades returns." Killian grimaced and tried to suppress an involuntary shudder, but nodded and allowed Emma to help him to his feet. The path back across the bridge was even more terrifying than it had been on the way in. Killian was by no means steady on his feet and he couldn't seem to put any weight on his left leg without it nearly collapsing under him. She tucked herself under his shoulder on that side, but however tightly Emma clung to his arm he swayed precariously with each step.

When they reached halfway across there was a widening of the path and Emma paused. "We can stop here a moment," she offered and Killian sagged against her. She ached to use her magic to heal him but if anything would call Hades back to this place, it was probably light magic. She looked the remaining distance to be crossed and back to Killian; he'd gone a little green and looked as though he were moments from passing out right where he stood.

 _If he fell was she strong enough to pull him back up without magic?_

It wasn't a risk she was willing to take.

"LIAM!" Emma called, Liam rushed into the cavern at a sprint, meeting her halfway across the bridge without even looking down.

"I told you I would come back for you, didn't I?" Liam asked, sinking next to his brother. Killian gave him a pained smile.

"I never doubted."

Liam glanced over the bridge and apparently came to the same conclusion that Emma had. "Killian-"

"I'll make it," Killian insisted wearily, "I just need a moment-"

"Killian, I am going to carry you over the rest of this bridge and you're not going to argue with me about it. We've come too far now to lose you because you're a proud git."

The pained smile returned to Killian's face and he nodded, "Aye, Captain."

"This is going to hurt like hell-" Liam warned, "but it's better than hitting the water." Liam moved closer, "Ready, brother?""

Killian nodded and in a swift movement Liam draped Killian over his shoulders and straightened. Killian went dead pale and choked back a cry at the pressure on his ribs, clutching his fingers spasmodically against Liam's back, but Liam was already moving. Step by step, sure-footed and never once looking down at the river, ignoring the pain that flared in his own wounds. Emma followed and when Liam put Killian back on his feet on the other side of the bridge she was there at his side again to steady him.

"Thank you," Emma told Liam and he looked at her, confused. For a moment she thought he'd tell her the obvious, that he didn't do it for her, but in the end he just nodded, leading the way from the cavern.

Milah was still at her post when they left the cavern, eyes watching nervously for signs of Hades. Her vigil broke when she saw Killian though, her jaw dropping in a soundless cry. She shook her head and pasted the falsest smile Emma had ever seen on her face before coming up to them.

"You look like absolute hell, Captain! I have Hello Kitty band aids to assist in this predicament!"

"I think…" Killian murmured, "I think Cerberus rattled my head harder than I thought-"

Milah's smile fell, but before she could say anything more Liam was taking charge again and she moved aside, confused and hurt by his lack of reaction to her.

"We should make haste," Liam said, "Hades will not remain absent for long."

Emma nodded her agreement, "But first, I have something for you." She pulled Killian's hook from her pocket, meticulously cleaned of blood and slipped it back into its brace.

"That's _right!"_ Milah said, "Liam, you totally owe me twenty bucks!"

Liam smiled but Killian didn't so much as glance at her, in fact, he grimaced and seemed to be actively _avoiding_ looking at her. Her heart sank. She'd known he'd moved on, been happy for him… _really,_ but- She shook her head. Now was not the time for her own silly emotions. Not when Liam was bleeding, Killian was barely being held upright, and Hades could return at any moment.

"Let's get you back to my bar," Liam suggested. "It's not perfect but it will be safer than staying in Hades' prison, waiting for him to return."

"Your... bar? Really?" Killian asked, a smile tugging at the corner of his lip.

"You'd be surprised," Milah said quietly. "He makes a fairly decent mimosa." By this time she didn't really expect a response from Killian but Liam certainly noticed, giving his brother a confused look.

"Yes _really,"_ Liam retorted finally, "I run a bar here. It's not a perfect place to recuperate but at least it's familiar ground."

"To the bar then," Killian replied, "I will follow you brother, as always."

* * *

The journey back out of the caverns was surprisingly uneventful, though that didn't stop Liam from nearly jumping out of his skin each time there was a distant sound that could perhaps be a growl. Killian's steps were slow and pained but they'd agreed they could not risk Emma's magic so close to Hades' lair. So they moved slowly but steadily through the caverns, hoping that whatever had distracted Hades for so long continued to do so for just a little while longer.

Milah lagged behind the group, watching Killian with heartbroken eyes that gave Liam a flash of an abrupt and strange emotion when it came to his brother.

 _Anger_.

He reminded himself that Killian had been through a lot, but the unfamiliar feeling settled low in the pit of his stomach and refused to budge.

All his life he'd put his brother first, looked out for him. And since Milah had come to the underworld she'd filled that void. Someone to protect, someone to care for. But now with them in the same room he felt an unfamiliar tug between the two that he'd never experienced before. Every half choked sound from Killian made him desperate to go to him, filled him with a rage towards Hades that was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. But each glance back at Milah, with her eyes downcast and confused made him ache to go to her. To assure her that this was not about her, that certainly Killian hadn't _meant_ to hurt her, he wouldn't-

Liam did neither. Now was not the time for that. He had to get them both to safety, before he could spare a thought for Killian's broken body or Milah's broken heart.

It wasn't until Emma had helped Killian sink down onto a couch in the back room of the bar that Liam finally relaxed just a little. Emma raised her hands to heal Killian's injuries but Killian shook his head, reaching for her hand and kissing it gently.

"It could lead Hades here," he insisted. "I won't lead Hades right to you-"

"Killian, you can't stay like this," Emma said. "You need-"

"I need very little right now," he interrupted. "If Hades finds us anyway and you need me to fight that's one thing but to bring the fight to you before you're ready, for the sake of a few cuts and bruises?"

The disbelieving look on Emma's face likely mirrored Liam's own, he was sure, but then he noticed Milah out of the corner of his eye. She'd remained hovering in the doorway behind Killian, apparently afraid to let him out of her sight, but nervous to come any closer. He gave Emma and Killian some privacy and went to her hoping Emma could talk some sense into his little brother given the chance.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and Milah jumped, his question dragging her back to the present. The false smile slipped back on her face and she nodded. "Of course I am! Killian is safe and fine and it really doesn't matter that he looked right through me like I wasn't even there." her words were shrill and too fast and Liam winced. "I mean, really," she continued, "it's been _centuries-"_

He cut her off with an arm around her shoulders and a tight squeeze. She looked up, surprised by the sudden warmth. Physical contact was something they did _not_ do. An unspoken agreement, centuries in the making, that they broke only on a few days a year. Killian's and Baelfire's birthdays, the anniversaries of their own deaths; the days where things were just… _harder_. And even then it was never like this, just a hand on a shoulder perhaps.

"Milah, he's been through a lot. He just needs some time to get his sea legs under him again. He's here, that's the important thing; and I'll talk to him. I still stand by my bet that _if_ he was Captain Hook, he was doing it all for you."

She realized she must have let the panic into her voice but couldn't regret it, leaning into him for support, wanting nothing more than for him to be wrong. He leaned against her, too, taking her shifting for permission. "You just made that in the hopes of cancelling out the 'Killian is Captain Hook' bet," she grumbled.

"Of course I was trying to cancel out the Killian is Captain Hook bet," Liam retorted, "After that Lost Boy we ran into, you had me convinced on that one."

"I'm reasonably certain I'd know my captain anywhere, even if he's only whispered about in stories and rumors."

"If you still want to punch me you can," he said with a smile, offering her another subject which she gladly seized upon. She pulled away, the room suddenly feeling oddly colder without his arms around her, and punched his shoulder half-heartedly.

Her blow had been teasing but unfortunately placed and he flinched back, a grimace crossing his features for a fraction of a second.

"Shellfish! Liam, you're still bleeding!"

"It's not like I need the blood for anything," Liam said, failing miserably to lighten the mood. "It's really…" Liam trailed off, "I got blood on your shirt. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."

"Do you really think a pirate can't get blood out of every piece of clothing she has?" Milah rolled her eyes. "Are you _actually_ apologizing to me for bleeding? Or for hugging me while bleeding?" she demanded. "Because the bleeding is not okay. Absolutely unacceptable. Don't do it again. I should punch you again for not telling me! Or anyone! Get Emma to heal it. Or at the very least let me clean it or bandage it or something."

"I'm fine," Liam said again. "Killian got the worst of it. Let her heal him first." He glanced back at the other room where Emma was apparently still trying to convince Killian that magic was worth the risk to heal his wounds. "Besides, mine are not as bad as they look."

A flush of guilt surged through her, she'd been so stuck in her own head, so caught up in her fear for Killian, that she'd somehow forgotten. Now that she was paying attention it looked bad. Really, really bad.

"Why did he do this?" she whispered, her fingers darting at the torn shreds of his shirt, carefully avoiding the torn flesh beneath.

"I was just another way to hurt Killian," Liam admitted, "I knew it going down there, but I know what Hades is capable of. I couldn't leave him there alone. I really should have told you before leaving the bar," he sighed, "If you hadn't found Emma, gotten her mostly there on your own. Things could have ended much differently."

"You scared me, Liam," Milah admitted, "When you weren't here I-"

"I didn't mean to leave you alone, I promise. Let me make it up to you with drinks? I know you've never heard me use this phrase before but here it goes: On the house."

"It was never the bar or the liquor I was interested in," she chastised, "I wanted to punch your face in because you're bleeding and you're my best friend and you made me worry and I was terrified you were even more dead and it's safer to worry about you than it is him."

"I'm not going anywhere," Liam assured her, "I'm very difficult to get rid of. That one time I died notwithstanding. I worry about you too. I don't ban you from the bar for fighting because of the broken furniture. You're my best friend too, y'know."

"I know," Milah sighed, "You're _impossible_ to get rid of. You've never let me succeed in pushing you away. Thank you." He was quiet a moment and his smile fell, "Why did you keep insisting you were expendable when we were rescuing Killian? Do you really think that?"

"Goodness, how long has this been bothering you?" She laughed lightly and shrugged. "You and he are brothers and she's _alive_. It wasn't self-deprecation, Liam, it was taking into account that she still has a life to get back to and you're…well, _you_. And you're out of your fool mind if you think I'd let anything happen to you."

"It's been bothering me since you _said_ it. Did you expect me to let it pass? Yeah, she has a life to get back to. I get that. But here's the thing. It's you and me down here. That's how it has been for centuries. For longer than I ever _knew_ Killian. I intend to help Killian move on before Hades has the chance to take him back, and I suspect Emma doesn't mean for him to stay in the Underworld either. And when Killian is gone, you will be all I have, same as always. Who is going to make my afterlife bearable if anything happens to you?"

"And what about you? You have been the _only_ thing that's kept me sane in this miserable hellhole, that's kept me from– You know me better than _anyone,_ sins and all, yet you still _like_ me. If anything had happened to _either_ of you, dying wouldn't have hurt half as much. It was probably selfish, but at least with you, I get to be." She hurried on before he could argue, "Anyway, When you talk to him could you not tell him I threatened to break both his legs if he doesn't take it easy? I doubt that would go over well with _green-eyes_ under the circumstances."

Liam found it suddenly hard to speak for the lump in his throat and nodded instead, glancing back over at Killian. Emma still hadn't managed to convince him that magic was worth the risk and was trying to clean him up without hurting him too badly, not particularly successfully if the look on his face was any indication.

Rolling his eyes at Killian's stubbornness he gave Milah's shoulder a last squeeze and went over to them.

"Enough of this, Killian," Liam said sternly, "If Hades comes, so be it. We will deal with it. But this place is hardly the last place Hades will look for me anyway, just let her help you."

Emma waited for Killian's nod, and within a few moments he straightened, the pain in his ribs and leg abating as his injuries began to heal.

"Better?" Emma asked.

"Thank you, love, devilishly handsome once more." There were a few moments of tension as they all wondered if Hades would appear in their midst, but he did not and Emma turned to Liam.

"I can fix you up too," she offered, "if you like-" he nodded and Emma healed him as well. He hadn't realized how much pain he was in until it faded, sheer relief from pain flooding him and leaving him suddenly exhausted.

"Thank you, Emma, that's much better," Liam said, dropping onto the couch next to Killian. "Not exactly the reunion I envisioned," he commented wearily, "I rather expected we would run into each other at the docks sooner or later and we could swap old stories, maybe get you to settle a few bets." His face grew serious and he glanced over at Milah. "I understand you are relieved to see your recent love, Killian, but you have barely looked at your first. Don't misunderstand me, Milah was glad when we heard rumors you had fallen in love again, but…" he hesitated. "It is a cruel fate to feel forgotten."

Killian looked dumbstruck for a moment and when he finally spoke it was barely a whisper. "You- You can see her too?"

Emma pressed his hand gently, realizing what had happened in a moment. "Killian, Milah is here. She and Liam both helped me to get to you."

"She's here," he repeated, not taking his eyes from Emma, and then finally, as though the words finally made sense to him he looked at Milah. "You're here?"

"Where else _would_ I be, my captain?"

"I thought-" Killian started his mind spinning, "You said something about cat-greeting bandages and I thought I'd hit my head harder than I realized."

Milah laughed in relief, "One of the perks of assisting children cross the street is I have an assortment of colorful bandages at my disposal."

Emma squeezed his hand again, "I'm going to step out and give you two a chance to catch up, alright?"

"Step out?" he replied, voice nervous. As much as he wanted to speak to Milah the idea of Emma being on her own down here made his stomach clench painfully. "Emma, you needn't. I'd… I'd rather you stayed."

"I won't be far, just outside. Your brother was about to be a gentleman and offer me a drink, weren't you?" Emma commented lightly, glancing over at Liam. He took his cue from Emma, nodding.

"I could use one myself," Liam affirmed, standing and following Emma back out into the bar. Emma sank down onto one of the stools and he cocked his head towards the back of the bar questioningly.

She shook her head. As much as the idea of a drink appealed to her right now, she thought it was probably best she keep her wits about her down here.

Liam nodded, watching her carefully from his spot leaning against the wall with his arms folded.

"So," he said finally after several long minutes of silence. "You're alive." Emma raised her eyebrows questioningly and he continued. "You're alive and Killian is not."

Emma sighed, "I think I'm going to need that drink after all."

* * *

 ** _Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Back to the grindstone. (Did we utilize a grindstone... no? missed opportunities abound) Well at least they made it out of the dungeon, I'm sure everything will be smooth sailing from here right! ... Leave us a note, it's awfully lonely here in the underworld :P_**


	5. 5 For the love of cat greeting bandages

_**The boys are out of the dungeon, it can only possibly be smooth sailing from here... right?**_

 _ **Be sure to check out the lovely fanart for this chapter by queen-mabs-revenge by checking it out when the chapter posts to pirate-owl's tumblr!**_

* * *

Milah tried to calm her breathing, reminding herself - as she had tried for the past several centuries - that it was habit more than anything else. But the body liked to pretend it was alive, liked to play at being real even when there was no heartbeat down here and no need for oxygen.

"Would you think me selfish if I admit I'm glad to see you? Even here." Killian's voice came from behind her, half-expected but still managing to take her by surprise.

Her heart lurched in her chest, the traitorous thing. It pounded in a way it rarely had since her death, and the times it had she'd refused to examine too closely. She fought back the smile, because that _voice._ She had missed it. Not the broken sound from earlier, or the raspiness of someone struggling to regain their breath. Not even the cock-sure swagger she'd grown used to over nearly a decade of adventures.

It was the voice of someone who, despite everything, _tried_ to sound assured and confident but somehow came across as a touch shy. It was the voice of a young pirate captain wanting someone to show the world to.

"Perhaps, though I would be guilty of the same." She didn't turn to face him yet. Somehow it seemed safer to tell him this without having to look at him. "I've missed you."

She had, _so_ much. It had been easier to forget the centuries of heartache suffered by the loss of him when there were others around, with reminders that they - that _he_ had moved on. Milah turned her head slightly to look at him over her shoulder. "It isn't fair, you know. Time was supposed to exaggerate the memory of you, but it hasn't. You're just as beautiful as I remember."

"Hades did _try_ to knock the handsome out of me. And you, love. All this time in Hades' domain? You said something about helping children to cross the street?"

"Oh... yes. Due to my _stellar_ reputation as a mother while alive, it was decided that I would spend my days here making certain nothing untoward happened to the kids. Hades has… an unparalleled appreciation for irony." She looked away, then back at him, "I was so looking forward to using the band aids," she commented, changing the subject quickly, "but I suppose the swift-mend was easier on the heart."

"I'm just glad it didn't call Hades to us," Killian replied.

Suddenly Milah smiled, "I'm _still_ going to use them. Hold still for a moment-"

Milah took the wrist that now ended in a metal hook and studied it for a moment, her fingers examining the leather straps that were so foreign. She remembered the hand that had been there, perhaps better than he did, himself. Milah could still draw it from memory if everything else about him in her sketchbook was anything to go by. The tiny scars that nearly mirrored the right, the longer length of one line of the palm over another, even the way his left thumbnail grew in just slightly more crooked. She had spent a decade memorizing every line of him and his hands had been no different.

She steadied her breath and offered him an admittedly small smile as she unwrapped one of the strips of plastic adhesive. "Centuries may have passed for you but I've only just found out," she explained. Carefully, and perhaps a bit foolishly, she wrapped the bandage around the metal curve. She prided herself in resisting the urge to seal it with a kiss as she would have done for the children she normally used them on. It came with practice. She resisted the same urge when it came to his brother. "There. The 'cat-greeting bandage' brings out the silver glint, don't you agree? You may tease me for this a little if you wish because I _know_ it's ridiculous. Just not too much."

He took the new adornment with as much grace as she'd expected he would and bit back a wider smile for it. "Very… cheerful. While not exactly what I was aiming for in selecting this particular attachment, I do appreciate the sentiment."

"I'm intrigued. You make it sound as though there are more. A pity I'll never see them." She was pushing things, of course, but her captain wasn't the only one who hid behind flirtation when nearly anything else was too much to handle.

His cheeks might have turned a bit pink but he was on to her, even as he made a visible effort to act as though he wasn't. "Will you be greatly upset if I remove it before Liam sees?"

"Do you believe yourself to be the only Jones who has been on the receiving end of my bandages, Captain?" Milah arched an imperious eyebrow. Of course he hadn't been. Liam had suffered the wrath of her bandages for far less an offense than a severed hand. "Perhaps I'll take pity if you answer something for me."

She meant to ask about a bet she had made with his brother but everything else about her had other plans. She hoped, at least, that her voice didn't crack nearly as badly as it sounded in her ears. She hoped, with everything, that she didn't look nearly as devastated by her question as she felt. "…Does she make you happy?"

She knew instantly she had failed to hide the desperation in her question, because his gaze softened. She wasn't sure why she even tried. Killian could always see right through her and, in that, the centuries apart had changed nothing.

He raised his hand to her cheek, a featherlight touch that she couldn't help but lean into.

"Oh darling," he sighed, brushing his thumb along her cheek, "don't take your smile from me so soon?"

"Have I? I'm sorry, I thought I still was."

"For centuries I thought you'd taken my heart with you when you-" he cut himself off, unable to finish the sentence. "But Emma- she showed me that it could still work. She… she makes me so much happier than I thought it possible for me to be again."

"I think I might like her more, then. I should probably tell her I'm not going to be throwing her off the dock…"

Killian's eyebrows lifted ever so slightly and Milah shrugged. "There were rumors she killed you-" she offered, by way of explanation.

"Ah," Killian replied, his gaze falling and this time it was her turn to raise her eyebrows at him.

"Killian?"

"Matters grew… complicated," he replied noncommittally. Milah resisted the sudden impulse to punch his shoulder and crossed her arms instead.

"Matters grew _complicated?"_ she asked, voice slightly mocking. "What _complication_ could possibly justify taking the life of the one you once claimed to love?" Her hand went to her chest in a habitual defensive motion that she wished she could take back when he winced.

"It was my life or that of her child, Milah," he said quietly. "...And her family."

Milah's anger evaporated in a moment, leaving only sympathy in her eyes, "Oh-"

"There was dark magic involved, I... set things into motion which could only be stopped by my death," he explained, voice tight. "In the end I begged her for the blow that ended my life."

"She must be very strong, your Emma. I don't know if I could have done it."

"For Bae?" he replied. "For Bae, you could have." He said it like a compliment though it made her gut twist.

"I'm sorry," Milah said quietly. "I'm sitting here worried about my tiny place in your memories and you- I'd felt guilty hoping you remembered me for at least a decade before moving on," she said it lightly but was still surprised at the bittersweet smile it evoked. He shrugged out of his jacket and tugged up his sleeve, offering his forearm for her inspection.

"Dear heavens, that's- you have my name tattooed on you-" Without her conscious consent, her fingertips lightly traced over the colored skin. Her cheeks burned and her legs turned momentarily to jelly in a sort of fight-or-flight instinct, because there was no possible way to forget someone that was tattooed on his skin.

She'd known how he had been after his brother, how the loss of Liam had torn Killian apart even when he'd had someone there to hold him together. It was why she'd felt guilt in hoping for a decade, why a small part of her had wished to lose the bet over who Captain Hook had been, to win the bet against Liam about why. It warmed her heart to be remembered, but shattered it to know the memory was a wound.

Milah distracted herself from continuing down that line of thought further by wrapping both hands around his forearm and bringing it closer so she could inspect the artwork, eyes narrowed in critical assessment.

"Clean lines. Not too over-crowded. Normally I'm more one for symbolism than words, but in this case…" She trailed off and lifted twinkling eyes to his and bit back a smile. "I suppose it works." Milah sighed and straightened back up, her fingers lingering against familiar skin perhaps a moment longer than they had any right to anymore. "Overall, it isn't bad. I can't think of many who could have done a better design." Clearly, she counted herself on the short list of people who could have, but if she'd been around for the design it wouldn't have been needed in the first place.

"You could have," Killian echoed her unspoken words.

"Oh, certainly, I'd have designed something beautiful for you! For you it… it would have-" her eyes went distant for a moment and her smile fell. She shook her head, "I imagine had our roles been reversed, I might have sparked a fire and watched the world burn."

"I didn't wish to burn the world. Only him. Not that I gave a damn if the world burned with him."

"I only ho-" she broke off, habitually avoiding the word, then grinned. "Screw him, I only _hope_ not all of your days were terrible. All I've ever wanted for you, love, was for you to be happy."

"Not everyone deserves to be happy," he sighed. He dropped back down to the couch and ran his fingers through his hair, exhaustion radiating off him in waves. He was tired. So damn tired he could feel it in every bone. Hades had cut him open and showed him what he was made of and he'd been helpless to stop him. Now Emma was here, and Henry. Her entire family was risking everything- Even Liam and Milah... now aligned against _him._ "Emma is risking her life, her family, to give me a future that I never deserved." His voice came out softer than he intended and she reached for his hand.

"Killian," Milah scolded, "that's-"

" Don't look at me like that," he retorted. "I branded my skin with your flag and did things that would make you deplore the very sound of my name."

"Do you honestly believe me to be that naive, Killian?" There was a spark of annoyance in her eyes now. "I saw your name painted in the tales of Captain Hook long before I _knew_ you were him. Did you think I could love someone so completely without knowing exactly who they were? I knew what you were capable of, what you could do if everything you cared for was taken. Whether you _deserve_ this second chance or not, it's what I want for you." His mouth opened and closed as though he were searching for words and she sighed. "Whatever it was, it's in the past. Just a reminder not to repeat past mistakes." Her eyes shone with compassion and for a moment he hated it. Hated that he was letting her look at him like that when she didn't know-

The words came spilling out without him quite deciding to say them, but once he'd started he knew he couldn't stop. She _deserved_ to know. "Your boy, your Bae… he sailed with me. Did you know?"

She shook her head mutely.

"I sailed to Neverland in search of a weapon to end the Dark One. Bae nearly landed on my deck. In the midst of all my darkness, he was a bloody sign from the Fates pointing the way to salvation. I hid him from the Lost boys, taught him to navigate by the stars, how to care for the rigging, how to tie an anchor hitch that wouldn't give out when the seas were rough. All the things we always wanted to-" A smile had crossed her lips and he cursed himself all the more for it, knowing he would steal it from her. "He found your portrait. You remember; the one I'd begged you for. He found it on my desk and deduced that I was the pirate who… who killed his mother. I tried to explain, but what did it matter to a boy who did the deed? I tore apart his family… one way or the other."

Her smile was gone now, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. He wanted to look away, didn't want to see the moment he broke her heart, but he didn't look down. She deserved that vengeance at least, that and so much more. "He rejected me and, in return, I gave him up to the demon of Neverland."

She had felt this pain only twice before. Once had been at discovering her ex-husband's deal against their future and the other had been when he'd torn her heart from her chest. It was the same pain. Only now the one who had torn out her heart had been Killian.

"You did… to my son? To my _Baelfire?_ " And for a moment that was all she saw. But instead of her husband, she now saw him. Her heart in his hand as he leaned toward her, whispering what he'd done. " _You sold my child?_ "

And it hurt more, if possible, because she'd trusted him in a way she'd never had her husband. She had believed, given the chance, he would have protected her future even if she hadn't been around to see it. Because he had been there, through all her own regrets and doubts. He held her together when nothing else could, when the pain and guilt had been nearly too much to bear. He knew that the boy she barely knew anymore meant more to her than her own life.

And he'd just… As easily as that?

Only it wasn't. Her husband had smiled as he sold her future the first time, smirked as he stole it the second. Killian offered himself to the judgment he'd already laid on himself, offering no attempt at justification. The face he wore at her accusation wasn't something new. It was an old pain, where there had been no one to hold him together when nothing else could and-

It just made it worse.

Because she wanted to claw at him, to tear him apart with nails and words, but some small part of her could see so clearly that he'd beaten her to it. He'd been doing that to himself since perhaps the very moment he'd made that decision.

"I… I have to go." She tore her eyes from him as she left, knowing that if she stayed she might very well break him. Milah knew how she could get when she hurt like this, knew of all the little ways she could destroy him, especially now. She left him in the back room, her vision blurred and _damn him_ she hadn't cried this much in the past century.

There were others in the bar now - people she didn't know - but her gaze fell on Liam. He looked up at her from where he stood behind the bar, eyes concerned. And she wanted to go to him because he was her _best friend._ But he was also Killian's brother and she couldn't just…

She offered him a smile, small and fragile, and very much avoided looking in his eyes for too long. "I need some air."

The bell over the door rattled as she left.

Liam glanced at Emma then they both made for the back room where they found Killian was seated on the couch again. He was staring blankly at the wall with a flask - one Liam hadn't known he'd had - in his hand. Killian took a long pull as they watched from the doorway, both frozen in confusion. Liam recovered first and took a step forward.

"Killian?" Liam asked carefully, "Killian, I just saw Milah leave, is everything-"

"You should go after her. She needs… someone. And it's sure as hell not me."

"Talk to me, brother, tell me what-"

"Please, just go to her," Killian interrupted.

Liam stiffened stubbornly, he was really getting quite tired of Killian telling him to leave when he was so clearly _not_ all right. "I don't want to leave you like this, Killian. I know how self-destructive you can get when-" he eyed the flask but didn't finish his sentence.

"Tell her I'm-" Killian shook his head, abandoning the thought. His voice was small and tired and Liam did _not_ want to leave him alone when he had that look in his eyes. But he did want to check on Milah; maybe she would tell him what the hell just happened...

He glanced at Emma again who stepped forward, "I'll stay with him."

"Liam, I'm- I'm sorry I could never- You were always the noble one. I'm just … I'm glad you two found each other."

"I will be back soon," Liam said, bending and taking the flask from Killian. "I love you, you hear me?"

Killian flinched as though the words struck him but nodded, knowing Liam wouldn't leave until he'd acknowledged that he'd heard. When he did, Liam clasped his shoulder tightly for a moment then rose, hurrying after Milah.

The next time he saw his brother, Killian realized, Liam would know too. Know that Killian had turned out just like their father...

"Killian?" Emma asked, eyes concerned. "Killian, what happened?" She moved to sit next to him. Killian heard a faint familiar crackling sound and glanced up. Hades was leaning against the wall behind Emma - who hadn't seemed to notice yet.

He tensed but Hades didn't move, didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't particularly feel like a fight with another magic user because he seemed to be offering Killian a chance to get Emma out of the way?

"Emma, do me a favor, love?"

She nodded.

"Would you get me some water from the bar? I'm still a bit parched-"

"Of course," she said, hurrying from the room. Hopefully not too quickly, Killian thought. As Hades stepped forward, he made a careless gesture towards the door and it slammed closed behind her. So much for subtlety. He could hear Emma pounding at the door and calling his name.

"Well, if it isn't the littler captain, at the bottle again," Hades drawled. "And I thought you looked rough _before_ you left my... care."

"What the hell," Killian said dejectedly, relieved that Hades did not seem particularly interested in Emma. "Have a drink before you pull out the lash. Might make the process more fun for the both of us."

Hades moved closer, bending in front of him when Killian didn't even bother to look up. "I barely recognize the stubbornly hopeful pirate who I saw so recently. So what happened, Captain? Care to talk about it?"

Killian clenched his jaw. Some part of him wanted to snap back at Hades but when he opened his mouth he found he didn't have the energy for it. "How about we skip the foreplay and you just tell me what the devil you want?"

"To say goodbye, apparently," Hades said, a smile in his voice. "I admit, I came here to drag you right back into the torture chamber, but it appears your own allies beat me to it. Congratulations, Captain. You are no longer worth my time."

Hades disappeared and the door flew open, Emma half tumbling into the room.

"Where is he?"

"Gone. Apparently I am 'no longer worth his time.'"

"You all right?"

He chuckled wearily. "Not really."

Emma sank back down onto the couch next to him. She reached for his hand, wincing when he pulled away. "So talk to me. Why did Milah rush out of here?"

"I had to tell her, Swan. She looked at me like… like I was still him, still her captain. I had to tell her the truth-"

"The truth?" She paused for a moment. "You mean about what happened between you and Neal?" He didn't reply but she could see that she'd hit the mark. "Okay, I get it. She deserved the truth. You think you've driven them away?"

"Of course I have. Emma, Bae is her child. If it were your b-" His voice broke and he looked down. "Henry can't stay here," Killian sighed. "None of you can. This place is too dangerous-"

"Neither can you!" she interrupted, hotly. "Killian, you have to remember you're _not_ that man anymore. It's okay to forgive yourself."

"And yet in less than a minute I was him again. I never needed _dark magic_ to throw myself into the darkness. It's been there, waiting for me, all along. It will wait for me, still, even if I am given another chance I don't deserve."

"Killian what are you-" she closed her eyes trying to ignore her growing fear at his dejected tone. "Killian, I have a way. We can go _home_. We can share a heart, Killian. Like my parents. It worked for them, it can work for us."

He looked up quickly, nervousness evident in his eyes. Your heart? Emma, are you certain?"

"It will work," she vowed. "I know it."

He nodded, though the nervousness did not completely disappear from his gaze. "We still need a way out. And I've driven away the people who know this place best."

"Maybe you haven't driven them as far away as you think?" Emma offered, moving to take his hand again and this time he didn't pull away. "Forgiveness might take some time, but they love you."

"Are you giving me a hope speech, Swan?" he smiled half-heartedly, "Your mother will be so proud."

"Promise not to tell her?" She leaned in and kissed his cheek lightly. "Speaking of which, there's some people outside who'd kind of like to see you. If you're up for it."

He nodded so she took his hand and led him out into the bar. Snow caught sight of him first, her eyes lighting up.

"Oh Killian- Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine."

People offered him greetings which he only half heard until suddenly something pressed through his haze of exhaustion.

"Where's Henry?" He glanced over at Emma then around the room. Henry was nowhere to be found.

"He was here," Snow said. "He was just here-"

"What?" Emma snapped. "Well, where is he _now?!"_

"I'm sorry Emma, I didn't see him lea-"

Emma hurried out into the street before her mother finished speaking, but there was no sign of him in any direction.

"We have to find him," Emma said, her voice too high with a note of panic.

She felt Killian's hand on her shoulder rubbing gently. "We'll find him, love."

She nodded and turned back to the rest of the group.

"Regina, can we use a locator spell?"

"We don't have anything of his to use," she replied, worry in her voice as well.

"All right," Emma said, trying to calm herself, "Regina, see if you can find something back in my parents loft to make a locator spell work. Everyone else, start searching. Start with Granny's; maybe he just went for food or something." She turned to Killian, "Killian, if he's not in the usual places, I think we're going to need-"

He nodded. "I'll find them. However mad they may be with me, I have no doubt they would welcome the opportunity to help your boy."

* * *

Milah rubbed the palm of her hand over that spot on her chest, the place where she could sometimes still feel phantom fingers gliding through flesh - bas though it were nothing more than water - to claw out a still-beating heart.

She had made a bet with Liam once, after one too many shots of rum, that she was _literally_ a heartless bitch. He had accepted far more quickly than she would have expected. They had spent the night in the hospital, trying to figure out the machine that would prove the winner. In the end, there it had been - nestled between lungs and kept safe by her ribs. It no longer beat, of course, because no heart here did, but it was there all the same.

At the time, she had been oddly pleased to see that death had returned what dying had robbed her of. It had been worth the twenty she handed over and then even more so as a grouchy bartender unlocked the door of The Rabbit Hole two minutes after the scheduled open time.

But now?

 _He sold her child._

Perhaps being without a heart would make this hurt less? There was a vague memory, half remembered through the pain, of emotions dulled by the distance between heart and body.

Yet, even then, she'd marveled at just how sharply she still loved him, the absence of other emotions serving only to heighten that one. She had loved him even without her heart and _he had sold her child._

She couldn't recall a time she had ever wanted to _hurt_ him. To claw at him with nails and words, to tear him apart just as much as he had her. But that was the problem as well as the reason she couldn't quite hate him for what he'd done. He'd been doing that to himself for centuries because of it. She could see it in his eyes and even now it gave her no pleasure.

Milah was too distracted to notice that brief absence of sound, more of a popping at the back of the mind than anything tangible, so easily overlooked. She wasn't even aware she was no longer alone on the dark street until she felt his breath against her ear, hot and sticky as it slithered down her spine. Her shoulders shivered as she jerked away and turned to face their malevolent overlord.

"I understand that you are unhappy in your current job." His smile would have been kind from anyone else, but there was a hardness, there, at the corner of his lips that made it anything but. "That's good because I want to talk to you about the possibility of moving you to a new position."

"What exactly is this 'new position' you have in mind? Social Worker? Elementary school teacher? _Nanny_?" Here, at least, she could use her words to bite and sting. Maybe if she were lucky, he would bite back. "What sort of _pathetic_ irony do you have up your sleeve for me today?"

"None at all. I want to make you mayor."

"Are you out of your mind?" she spat. "What gives you the idea I would even want that crap job?"

"Because you've been asking me for a different job for centuries and I'm here offering you one. I took the job from Cora because she failed and had the offer out there for someone who successfully interfered with the pirate and his friends. Cruella asked for the job, but she seems more interested in running around the town looking for a way out of the Underworld. But you… Well, I had the pirate prisoner for days, subjected him to every torture my very creative mind could think up. And he refused to break. You had him for all of an hour and you managed to _shatter_ him. It is a very rare achievement to succeed where I've failed. Congratulations."

"I am _sick_ and _tired_ of your twisted mind warping _everything_ around you. Do you honestly believe I enjoyed a _second_ of that?" Her fist flew before she could think better of it. To be honest, if she had, she likely would have done so anyway. Her knuckles connected smartly against his jaw and she heard a faint sizzle. "You can _take_ your offer and _shove it up your_ – flibbertigibbet that _hurts_."

"Did that make you feel better?" Hades taunted.

Her eyes stung at the pain of burned flesh. It took her by surprise, a punch hadn't hurt this badly since she'd learned the hard way to _not_ tuck the thumb against the palm when making a fist. "You have no idea."

"Fortunately for you, I am feeling benevolent, Mayor Milah. Congratulations." His hands paused mid-air as he clicked his tongue and dipped his head forward. "And don't test my patience further."

In a swirling blue flame he was gone, leaving Milah alone once again. Breath escaped her lungs as she staggered back, managing to catch herself after a step.

Mayor. And all she'd had to do to get the despicable position was to emotionally eviscerate someone she loved in four words.

 _Crap._

* * *

 _ **Ok so maybe not so smooth of sailing. Apparently they've got about 300 years worth of issues to resolve now and Killian may be healed but he's basically #too old for this. Someone just let that boy take a nap! But Emma is giving hope speeches and Milah got an ironic promotion so...yay?**_

 _ **And where did Henry get off to? That boy really must stop wandering around in the woods unsupervised for entire episodes!**_


	6. 6 Cabinet meeting at the Mayor's office

_**Chapter 6 - (In which they very much wish to redecorate the Mayor's office!)**_

Liam wasn't actually expecting to find Milah in the mayor's office. He had already gone everywhere that made any sense, he'd spent most of his time searching the docks. As an absolute last resort, her house. Someone claimed they saw her go in to the mayor's office and though it seemed even more absurd than the too large home she so despised, it was worth checking. But there she was, sitting behind the massive desk, apparently completely absorbed in whatever book was open in front of her, an open bottle of gin on the desk next to her.

"Milah, I've been looking all over for you. What are you doing in here? We don't even _have_ a mayor anymore."

She glanced up with a smile so brittle he was almost afraid it would break. "Liam, fancy meeting you here. Did you know persons may not allow 'attractive nuisances' to exist? Did we somehow submit a bunch of random laws during moments of inebriation?"

"Not likely. I wouldn't have banned attractive nuisances _permanently_. That seems harsh." Liam shifted where he stood, folding his arms.

He'd hoped it would make her smile but her smile was the same as before, false and strained. She leaned back in her chair, taking the open gin bottle with her. She took a swig and gestured around the large room, the monochrome scheme clashing with the colorful pirate sitting in the oversized chair. "Apparently getting the job is easier than one would believe. I mean, all you have to do is what he couldn't by shattering Killian and punching Hades all in the same day, so..."

"Shattering Killian?" His arms dropped to his side and his eyebrows rose. "Wait, you punched _Hades_?"

This time when Milah smiled it was a bit more real with a touch of predator in her teeth though it still didn't quite reach her glassy eyes. "It was just as satisfying as I thought it would be."

As she took another generous swig, Liam reached out and took the bottle from her. "Alright, I think that's enough drink for now, just until you stop taunting our immortal overlord. If you don't, he might drag you off and I would have to try to rescue you, and that could get messy. Just… stop threatening immortals, okay?"

"He already gave me this crap job, what _more_ can he do?" Milah slapped her hand back on the desk and winced.

 _Plenty,_ Liam thought before chasing the train of thought away and focusing on her instead. Liam sighed at the sight of her injury. "You've burnt your hand, I see. Not really a surprise. It could have been a lot worse. Let me help you get that cleaned up."

Milah grumbled but fished through drawers until she found something that resembled a first aid kit and plopped it on the desk. "I would tell you not to worry about it because the pain helps me focus, but I doubt you'd listen."

Liam gave her a look. He pulled the kit closer as he knelt beside her chair. "Just let me clean it before it gets infected."

After a reluctant pause she turned the chair toward him and held her hand out for his. He took it in his own and she cleared her throat. "Oh. Infection. Yes. D-do you suppose the germs here are undead germs?" She winced a little as he worked and he wished he was better at the task of a gentle hand. When Killian was young he had often wished the right words came more easily to him. They didn't, and while he could wrap and dress a wound with efficiency, bedside manner still was not something he wasn't very good at.

Liam cleaned the burn the best he could before loosely wrapping it. "What happened, Milah," he asked again, "with Killian? I've not seen him like that in a very long time."

"Look, I- I didn't mean to- I wasn't even _thinking_ about Brennan when I said it. All I could think of was that he'd given up Baelfire." Milah pressed her free hand against her forehead as she leaned against the desk. "I'm sorry, I just-"

Liam felt his blood run cold. "Milah, he didn't tell me what happened. What is this about?"

She looked up at him with wide, guilty eyes. "He didn't? …oh." Milah shifted in her seat uncomfortably, pulling her bandaged hand from his to settle in her lap. "I thought he'd- well it's nothing really."

"Milah, tell me?"

"Um. Well, he went to Neverland. He found Baelfire, hid him from the Lost Boys. At first I was happy because how could it possibly go wrong from there?" Liam nodded as he listened to the story, trying to ignore that sinking feeling in his gut. At the end of it she made a noise of frustration. "I don't know why he even told me. But… I just need to be furious at him for awhile." She buried her face in her arms, bandaged hand resting on top of her head, "And eviscerated."

It took a moment before he could form coherent thought, let alone words. He leaned back on his heels. "He… Killian sold your son? To Pan? He should have looked out for him as his own. What could he possibly have decided was worth that?"

"I don't _know_ what," she groaned, "I sort of left before I could get any sort of further clarification so I wouldn't break him more. And then. Well..." She held up her bandaged hand and waved it toward the office. "I haven't really gotten the chance to get any more answers."

Liam stood up, fists at his hips. "Is half a rowboat still the going rate for sons?" he snapped bitterly.

"Liam!" Milah stared at him for a moment, shocked he would make the comparison aloud. "He's not _him_. You know that." Then she shook her head to get back on track. "I'm still furious, of course. I'll likely give him a right swift kick to the… shin when I see him again."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Liam asked.

"I just couldn't bear the thought of you hating him."

"I don't _hate_ him. I'm furious with him. And I don't understand how he _could._ After everything we…" He sighed and rubbed his hand against his forehead. _"_ But he is still my brother and I love him, regardless."

Her shoulders relaxed. "Oh. I'm glad for that. I wouldn't want that, for either of you."

"But I still can't believe… You know where we come from, what it was like for me and Killian growing up on that damned ship. And to your son of all people."

"I tried to hate him," Milah sighed. "I'm annoyed that I can't. But I saw the look in his eyes before I left and I just… I don't know what to do."

"I do think I know that look." Liam shook his head. "You should have seen him after he gambled away the money that was supposed to buy our freedom. I was so angry with him, but I didn't have the heart to make him feel any worse than he already did about it. No one can torture Killian worse than he can himself. Though many have tried." Liam sighed, "All the things we've heard, all the people he's sent down here. I thought I was used to the idea of… Captain Hook. Even without me I thought he would draw the line _somewhere_ before this. If I had been there… if I hadn't been such a stubborn fool in Neverland…"

"And if I hadn't left with him, your brother would have lived a life that hadn't been mostly misery. If I had told my husband I was leaving instead of just doing so, perhaps things would have been different. At the very least, my son wouldn't have believed your brother to be my murderer." She dropped her head in her undamaged hand for a moment before looking up again. "He told me, Liam. He didn't have to, but he did. At first I thought it was because he _wanted_ me to hate him. Wanted me to think he didn't deserve a second chance."

"A second chance?"

"With Emma. That's why she's here. She thinks she can bring him back. _Back_ back."

Liam's eyebrows furrowed together and he looked down, focusing on packing up the first aid kit as he tried to process what she had said. Finally he finished with the kit. "You don't truly believe my brother would have been happier if you had never sailed with him, do you?"

Milah raised her eyebrows at the change of subject and he bent to put the kit away. He saw Milah shrug out of the corner of his eye. "Don't you? You were right. About Captain Hook, about why he became Captain Hook. All these years trapped in that darkness?"

"I can't imagine anyone happier for not knowing you," he said simply. "Killian has always had a fire to him. He was always going to find something to fight for with such fierce passion he would risk getting lost in it. There are a great many worse causes he could have chosen than you."

"…Oh? Well. I mean. You know. Stop it you're not supposed to–" she stuttered for a moment and her hand fluttered to her throat. "I _am_ pretty good at keeping things interesting, aren't I? And there's not many who could keep up with _both_ of the brothers Jones."

"You certainly do at that," Liam chuckled. "We should… uh… we should probably head back to the bar. Killian will be doing that thing where…" he paused. "Wait! Did you say that you are the mayor now?"

Milah rubbed at her forehead before gesturing to the room, lips flat and voice tinged with annoyance. "Welcome to my office, I guess. I'm thinking of redecorating."

* * *

Killian could hear their voices inside and for a moment he hesitated. Then, steadying himself, he knocked on the doorframe with his hook. "Milah, lo-" he cut himself off, looking down.

Milah glanced up when she heard his voice, schooling her face into sternness. She met his eyes for a moment - a mistake. It was damn hard to stay mad at Killian Jones when he had that remorseful look in his eyes. "Have they put out the flyers already? How did you find me when I've only just gotten the job?"

"I didn't know where to find you, I went to the docks first and you weren't- but then I heard the tales of the lass who punched Hades and got the mayorship for it; it could only have been you."

"Is that what they're saying? I punched him for making the offer. Apparently I'd… impressed him by doing what he couldn't so the punch was warranted."

"I know you don't want to see me, and I wouldn't dare to ask something of you now, except it's for Henry."

"Henry?" Milah asked. "As in… my grandson Henry? Is he okay?"

"We're not sure he… He seems to have wandered off. Could be nothing, could be bad- We could use people familiar with the ground. And I knew you wouldn't refuse this, not when it's for him."

"Of course I'll help. Killian, I wouldn't have refused you even if it weren't for him." Killian was pointedly avoiding Liam's gaze and she sighed. "And… I'm sorry. I thought you'd told Liam why I'd left. And when I realized you hadn't, it was too late." She glanced over at Liam who hadn't said anything yet, but his face was unreadable.

" _You're_ sorry?" Killian replied in shock, "I didn't tell him because it wasn't mine to share. But you both needed to know the truth. There was no limit to the depths of my depravity. You are right to despise me for it." His voice fell. "I knew very well I'd lost my brother the moment I sent him to find you."

Liam's eyebrows furrowed, "Killian, you are a bloody idiot sometimes," he grumbled. "You know that? You truly believe there is _anything_ you could do that could make you _lose_ me?" He shook his head, irritation in his eyes. "I'm furious with you, Killian, of course I am. At least as much for thinking I would just turn my back on you as I am for the original offense. You've clearly tormented yourself for that one quite enough already." He sighed, "You really think you're the only person here who's screwed up? Besides, I would hardly begrudge you my aid to do the right thing, to save the lad. Of course I'll help, little brother."

Killian was speechless for a moment before he finally found the words. "You've always accepted my failures, but this? Of all things. Liam you raised me to be better-" he paused, his throat tight. "Better than _him_."

Milah winced. Somewhere in the back of her mind she'd hoped his mind hadn't gone precisely where she'd known it would. She glanced at Liam. There was anger in his eyes again but she knew that it was not for Killian.

"Yes, I did," Liam retorted. "And you are. That bastard has nothing to do with you, I don't see him gathering a crew to save another child from the same fate." Killian looked unconvinced and Liam sighed, "Killian, I never expected that you wouldn't make mistakes. Even bad ones. But you've become the kind of man who owns up to them, who tries to make things right. I'm… I'm proud of you, Killian."

Whatever Killian had been expecting when he walked into this room that was about as far from it as he could possibly have imagined. "Thank you, Liam," A smile of relief flitted over his face. There was a light knock on the door and he turned around,

Emma looked nervous but relaxed when she saw Killian's face. She gave him an 'I told you so' look but didn't say the words aloud.

"Nothing at the diner?" he asked.

"Or the loft, or anywhere else we can think of to look so far. They're still looking but- we could really use some help."

"We borrowed some of your maps during Green-Eyes and mine's dashing rescue,"  
Milah said, "They were put back in place at the bar. More or less. The ones Liam's drawn up are more detailed than the ones here but there might still be something here that may be useful. There's a lot here and I've barely started going through it-"

"I'll go get them, and bring them back here," Emma jumped in, she was halfway out the door when Liam turned hurriedly.

"I'll accompany her," Liam offered, hurrying out after her.

Killian could hear raised voices out in the hallway nearly the moment they were out of sight and was tempted to follow them but shook his head. Clearly, they had something to work out.

"What the devil was that about?" Killian asked and Milah shrugged, just as confused as he was.

* * *

"Emma!" Liam called and she slowed down to let him catch up. "Can we talk?"

Emma sighed. "Is this like the protective big brother talk where you want to make sure I'm good enough for Killian?"

"I already know you're not," Liam replied flatly.

Emma gaped at him for a moment, "Okay, _what_ is your problem with me?"

"Is the fact that you've trapped my little brother here not enough reason to be terse?" Emma started, surprised by his bluntness. "Killian blames himself for ending up here," Liam continued, "but it sounds to me like it's not his fault."

"What?"

"Killian's been fighting darkness his entire life; you pushed him off the cliff."

"I was trying to save his life," Emma retorted defensively.

"And it was a bloody selfish thing to do. He had a chance to die a hero, to move on. You took that from him. _That_ is my problem with you."

She nearly tripped on a curb trying to keep up with Liam's longer strides and despite his harsh words he slowed to let her keep pace more easily. Something that felt like nausea made her stomach churn and she turned to face Liam. He stopped short to look at her appraisingly.

"That's not fair," she insisted. "I'm down here risking everything to save him."

"And is that really what he needs... or what you need?"

"Were you this self-righteous when you were alive?" Emma demanded crossing her arms in front of her. She meant it to look defiant but she knew it probably looked more defensive than anything else.

"When it came to my brother, yes. If he helps to save your son today, he may be able to forgive himself and have a chance to move on. When that happens, stop thinking about your own desires. Let him go."

"Is that what you would have done?" she snapped, and was relieved to see the question seemed to throw him a bit. She pressed her advantage, closing some of the distance between them. "If you watched him fall, if you were watching him die in your arms, you wouldn't risk magic… risk _anything_ to save his life?" He swallowed hard and Emma almost regretted being so blunt.

"There are lines that should not be crossed," Liam said stiffly.

"Would you cross them, for him?"

"No."

"You're a liar," she spat back.

"It doesn't matter what I would have done. It doesn't even matter what you did. What matters now is whether you are going to stand between him and safety." Liam turned abruptly and continued down the street while Emma fumed, glaring at him so hotly she wondered if she could control her magic enough down here to just set his pants on fire.

Letting out a huff of exasperation, she hurried to catch up.

All of this could wait. She had to find Henry and she might just need Liam's help to do it. After that… then maybe she'd set his pants on fire.

* * *

Milah pulled out some papers from a random drawer. She glowered at them and Killian looked across the room at her. "Problem?"

"They don't even have trees drawn in where they should," she informed him.

"No kraken either?" he asked teasingly and she glared up at him.

"Don't talk to me about Kevin, Killian," she told him sharply, "I am trying to stay mad at you."

"Thought I was going to have a bloody mutiny on my hands, you remember?" A small crease formed at the corner of her lips in that way it always did when she was trying not to smile. "The crew became convinced they were sailing through Kraken territory."

"And as I assured them, poor Kevin the Kraken was merely hugging that vessel. He was a lonely squid and the ship was his friend." She chuckled. Kevin had been her favorite of the sea beasties she had made stories for. She had only stopped due to Liam's response to him, though she still didn't know what had caused such a visceral reaction. "Damn your face, Killian Jones," she grumbled, losing the battle against her own smile. "In my defense, Captain, I'd told you I was running low on paper and I recall a certain someone saying I would 'never dare to do such a thing' to his charts if we did not replenish my supply soon. You really ought to have known better."

"Of course I knew better. I loved those damn scribbles on my maps." He paused in his search of a bookshelf and glanced over his shoulder, "You think it was your insistence than Kevin was a lonely squid that won them over? And all this time I thought it was dangling O'Brian from the boom until he acknowledged I was a right bit more terrifying than calamari…"

She crossed her arms stubbornly. "Seeing as how you're my captain, I'm willing to concede 60-40 in my favor. Remember, it isn't always about who is right. It's sometimes a question of who's Milah."

"Aye… I remember," he tried to smile a bit but it faded quickly, a bit of old melancholy on his face. She watched the wall go up in his eyes and he attempted a flirtatious smile that fell so flat it made her wince. "I seem to recall having some decently persuasive skills, myself."

She wasn't sure what to say at first, but then the words came back to her from earlier.

"Oh, darling. Don't take your smile from me so soon?"

"That's cheating, love, using my own words against me."

"They were very pretty words," she said with a small smile.

"What are we doing?" Killian asked her, standing and striding over to her, dropping the book he'd been leafing through to the desk with anything else they'd found that looked useful. "After all this time… still bickering about those bloody drawings like we used to when I wanted to see that spark in your eyes. Do you know how long- how desperately I'd hoped for this chance? In the dark hours of the morning when the only sound was from the night watch and the endless noise in my head that the sea could never quite drown out." He reached for her hand, half-expecting her to pull away but she didn't. "Milah, _I'm sorry_. Not just for Bae. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, that I didn't get you back to your boy like we talked about. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I loved you when you fell- I should have kissed you goodbye, I should have done… _something_."

Milah leaned forward and kissed his cheek gently. "It's not the goodbye kiss I'd have chosen at the time," she admitted with a smile, "but it's the one least likely to get me tossed in the river by green-eyes now."

Killian chuckled, "She's not generally the jealous type."

"Of course she isn't. She has no reason to doubt your feelings for her. I remember." She paused, "Killian, you did tell me you loved me. The words might have gotten stuck but how could I not hear them? The years I spent with you was worth a lifetime I could have spent anywhere else. Of all that I regret, the only one I have of you is that I had to leave you alone."

"I know it's not that regret which has trapped you here," he told her quietly. "Baelfire's son needs our help now, love. And once you've done that…" he paused and took her hand, voice insistent. "You can't stay here. Neither of you can. Not now that you've aligned yourself against Hades."

There was a tap on the door frame and Liam came back in, a bundle of maps and charts in his arms. Emma followed, her face grim. For a moment he thought he'd miscalculated when he'd told Milah that Emma wasn't the jealous type. He released Milah's hand to take a map from Liam, but it wasn't Killian that Emma was glowering at.

"You alright?" he asked her carefully, half expecting the back of Liam's shirt to ignite from the heat of her glare.

"I just need to find my son," she said and he nodded, glancing over at Liam. "Well then, if there's someplace we're not looking it will be here-"

"They're not as well mapped as if my best navigator had done the job," Liam said, "but a captain in uncharted waters never leaves them uncharted long. Milah helped a great deal. You taught her well."

"Impressive. Is that a sea monster in the river?" Emma asked and Milah smiled proudly.

"The fact that we've heard nothing is strange," Killian started rolling the chart out on the desk. "If someone wished to use Henry to pressure you to do something, Emma, they'd have alerted you of their trump card by now."

"So someone needs Henry, specifically, for something?" Emma filled in. "He's got the heart of the truest believer; that's what drew Pan to him. And he's the author."

"A living heart of any kind is very valuable down here," Milah commented. "But if someone needed him for his heart they'd just have taken it." She glanced at Emma quickly. "Sorry, but it's true."

Emma nodded. "Someone wants the author?"

"So we find out where the last author spent his time down here." Killian suggested, "It's a place to start. Topside it was a big bloody obtrusive mansion, can't be too hard to find down here-" He leaned over the maps. "Milah, Liam you two know these charts better than I do, can you think of anything that might qualify?"

"A large mansion?" Milah mused, "I recall one or two. Let's see…Bob the Unicorn is near the one large house in the woods," she pointed to the landmark and its equestrian guardian. "It's full of hats and pictures of a cute blonde girl. "There was another… near Carl the Kelpie? Ah, no, he protects the docks. Oh! Right here, Mortimer the Dragon is sleeping on it. It's a very large house full of doors and old books."

"That sounds like the Sorcerer's mansion…" Emma said. "If someone is trying to borrow Henry's author powers, that would be the place to go. I don't want to think of the chaos someone could cause with those books. But Henry broke the pen. Do you think there's something in the mansion that could restore it?"

"I think we'd better go find out."

* * *

 **We're nearly half way through now! Looks like we finally got some things out in the open between Killian, Milah and Liam. I'm sure there definitely won't be any more secrets that self-righteous Jones is still keeping from his little brother! *cough* Guess we better go rescue Henry, he's been wandering around on his own for a little too long!**

 **Hope you're enjoying it. Leave us a comment or come chat with us on tumblr! (gusenitsa, pirate-owl, justmilah)**


	7. 7 Cyclops the five eyed pup

_Guess who decided this chapter needed to be reorganized 15 times...WE DID. Sorry for the delay! And thanks again for you guys who left comments. It helps when I'm on reorganization #11.5 and I get tempted to end the fic by throwing them all in the river of lost souls..._

 _ **Chapter 7 - Cyclops the five eyed pup:**_ **in whi** **ch** **using oneself as a tasty bit of pirate morsel chew toy to a hell beasty is very much a bad idea.** (Only the most serious of chapter titles in here, guys.)

* * *

Emma left to regroup with her family who were still searching the town for some sign that Henry's disappearance was no more than his thirst for exploration getting the better of him at an inopportune time. Meanwhile Killian scouted ahead with Liam and Milah, under direct orders from Emma not to approach until she arrived. The order made Liam bristle but he followed Killian's lead in accepting it.

When they grew close to their destination it was just in time to see Cruella entering the mansion, though Henry was not in sight. Everyone else was watching Cruella but Killian's eyes were on the treeline to the side of the house.

"Do you see six red eyes behind that treeline?" Killian asked and they glanced that way.

"Cerberus," Liam said, nodding. "Hades is here."

"Perhaps not," Killian offered. "Cruella has a magic with beasts, perhaps even those like Cerberus. Fortunately, this beast rather likes the taste of pirate."

"Killian Jones," Milah grumbled, "using oneself as a tasty bit of pirate morsel chew toy to a hell beasty is very much a bad idea!"

"Only if he catches me," Killian replied, "Besides, it's not as though he can actually kill me. Being dead is very liberating, I must say."

"By that logic, I'm a good a choice as you are, right?" Milah retorted.

Liam looked between them, "You don't _truly_ intend to persuade Cerberus to chase you, do you?" Liam asked. "There must be a better way to neutralize the creature."

"No, nope, uh-huh," Milah interrupted before Killian could even reply. "I know that look. It's your 'trust me with my devilishly gorgeous eyes, love, I've had worse plans than this succeed' look. Well, you're out of your fool mind if you think this isn't your worst idea yet."

"Worst idea?" Killian retorted, "Hardly! Do you not recall the time we raided a poultry vessel, Milah? The smell, love. Do you not remember the smell?"

"Ohhhh-" Milah shuddered in spite of herself. "You _swore_ we'd never speak of that again, Captain! It took ages to get the _eau de chicken poo et al_ out of my hair!"

"Enough," Liam broke in. "I agree that my brother is not the best candidate for such a task, but neither are you," he glanced at Milah. "Because…" he paused as though he hadn't actually thought this far ahead. "Because as Killian's Captain, I outrank both of you and I don't need a reason." Milah murmured something under her breath that definitely involved the word mutiny and Liam sighed.

"I've had that beast's fangs around my throat already," Killian shrugged, ignoring Milah's grumbling. "There are worse things. Like watching bloody Cruella use a damned hell-hound to destroy the woman you love or her child. So if that creature moves towards her I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure that it considers me a more appealing meal than it does her. Nothing you can say will change that. Besides, I've faced worse demons than this, Liam. All the monsters we read about as boys, they're real. I've seen them. Hell- I've _been_ them."

"You think you're the only one who knows what it is to be the monster?" Liam snapped, "You're wrong. You aren't the only one. I..." he trailed off and looked away for a moment before sighing in exasperation. "I'm not asking you to allow the beast to harm Emma or the boy. Let me do this one part. That's all."

Killian shook his head stubbornly, "You both have done enough leading us here. You risk Hades' wrath every step you take along this path with me. You should-"

Liam's face went stony and a sharp look cut Killian off in a way he hadn't experienced in centuries. "Not bloody likely."

"You've been trapped here long enough, brother," Killian continued quietly. "Hades hold on this place is slipping, you can try to move on now, as you should have been able to do years ago."

Liam swallowed hard then seemed to come to a decision and looked up at Killian. "I _can't_. Even if I wanted to."

Killian shook his head, confused, and Liam hurried on before he could change his mind. "I _know_ why I'm here, Killian. I'm here because I made a deal with the devil, doomed innocent men to the depths. I'm here because I'm not the hero you think I am."

"What are you talking about, Liam?" Killian looked younger somehow, nervous in a way Liam hadn't seen in so long that it nearly stills his tongue. He never suspected, never once…

"You remember the shipwreck? Of course you do. When I went below to look at the charts, Hades appeared. I made a deal with him… I… I traded their lives for ours…" His gaze fell and he spoke his next words to the ground. "I'm so sorry, Killian. I never had the courage to tell you before."

For a moment Killian said nothing, unable to process the words. Finally Milah broke her silence, spinning on Liam "Now? Now?! You are going with NOW to tell him?!"

"You… knew?" Killian finally managed, voice somehow both quiet and cutting at once.

"We've been here a long time, Killian," she offered with a small shrug. "There's … there's little we haven't discussed."

"Did it amuse you, brother?" Killian looked right past Milah to Liam. "To watch me fail again and again and know I could never hope to live up to my _perfect_ brother?"

"I never meant-" Liam closed his eyes, deciding rapidly that it didn't matter in the slightest what he'd _meant_. "You're right, Killian. I should have told you then. I should have been honest with you from the start. Do you think I would still be in the Underworld if I didn't know that was true? But I never once wanted to hurt you. So let me protect you the right way this time. Let me be the one to shoulder the risk instead of thrusting it off onto others. This time let me do the right thing."

"We don't have bloody time for this," Killian growled, his face turning stern as he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. He could hear the sound of steps approaching, Emma and her family had nearly caught up. "You want to bait the beast, Liam, fine. But I've thrown myself into enough self-made suicide missions to know one when I see it." He turned to Milah and she nodded as though she already knew the order that was coming. She probably did. "Which is why Milah is going with you. If either one of you end up in the river, I swear I will dive in and drag you back out myself, am I understood?"

Liam was taken aback for a moment but Killian's tone offered no room for argument so what came out was less an argument than a plea. "You still... trust me to look after her?"

"I trust her to look after you." Killian replied tersely, then more gently, "I trust you both to look after each other."

"Aye, Captain," Milah replied with a quick nod. "I'll keep an eye on him."

Killian nodded at her and turned back to his brother. "Hell, Liam, you know what I've done. You think that I didn't throw myself into every possible danger after… that I didn't consider the most foolhardy of plans reasonable risk because I wanted to go down fighting? The only thing that kept me fighting some days was a desperate desire to take him with me." He paused and his gaze softened, "Milah is going with you, because I will not allow that for you. You will fight for her and you will fight for yourself and you will both keep yourselves out of that damn river because I am not ready to lose either of you again."

"Of course I'll fight for her, Killian," Liam said. "I always will for as long as she is in this cursed place. Every bit as hard as I fought for you."

Something about the way Milah looked at Liam then was painfully familiar and Killian shook his head, with no time to think about it at that moment. Emma came into sight and then suddenly there was the sound of a door slamming. People were coming out of the mansion in the clearing. He could see Henry and two figures, one of which was clearly Cruella. The other he couldn't identify from so far away. Both were arguing in raised voices though he couldn't catch the words.

Killian turned to Liam and Milah, "You should know, Emma has a tendency to employ a rather more frontal assault than we usu-"

"HEY!" Emma cried when Cruella took a step forward, and she put on speed, bursting through the treeline without hesitation. She wasn't sure if Cruella's 'rules' still applied here but she wasn't about to find out.

"Oh, suck my toe with a rusted wrench and kiss my nose with a crowbar," Milah grumbled, watching Emma stride out towards the group. "Mothering fudge cake of a turnip twaddling ever loving son of a hobgoblin. What is she doing?!" Killian gave her a look, and she stiffened. "Don't look at me like that, Killian, I've been a crossing guard since forever. I've had to clean up my language some. Well, after you. Or her. I guess."

"Indeed," he agreed. "Get as close as is prudent to the beast but wait for my signal-" Killian ordered and then darted out to join Emma and her family in the clearing.

Cruella and the other woman, the Blind Witch as it turned out, looked up and Cruella smiled venomously. "Look who's come to save the day," Cruella crooned. "Make your son see reason, savior! It's really only fair that he use his author powers to send me back considering it's his mother's fault I'm here. And just think about how much safer he'll be without me here."

Emma opened her mouth to speak but Regina beat her to it "Step away from my son," Regina growled from behind her.

Killian leaned closer to Emma while Regina provided an unwitting distraction. "Cerberus," he whispered, glancing towards the treeline. "Give them a moment to get in position."

Emma nodded, and turned back towards Cruella "He'll be safer still if I toss you both in the river."

"Well maybe I have something I didn't have last time," Cruella smirked, and Killian cursed under his breath, so much for time to get in position. He signaled Milah behind his back and hoped they were ready.

"Swee, swee, come on, boy, play fetch!" Something whizzed by and Cerberus let out a roar, a throwing knife protruding gruesomely from one eye. Whether or not it was what she intended it certainly got the beast's attention and it turned, charging into the woods after them. His gut twisted nervously but then he heard a distant cry of "Come on, Fluffy!" from his brother and shook his head turning back to Cruella. Emma waved her hand and Cruella and the Blind Witch went flying across the clearing.

"You really willing to risk that I'm bluffing again?" Emma called as they scrambled to their feet. The answer must have been no because they vanished nearly so fast as if Cerberus had been chasing _them_. Emma shrugged, clearly she'd been expecting more of a fight, but turned back to Henry.

"Henry, you okay?" She knelt and hugged him, half in relief and half to see for herself that he wasn't hurt.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Emma nodded, "What happened, kid?"

"I thought I could find the pen. That I could fix everything if I could just find the pen. But I guess I wasn't the first one to have that idea…"

"Henry you have to promise me you'll be more careful. You scared me, kid."

"I'm sorry, Mom. I just wanted to help."

"And you can, but from now on we have to do this stuff together." Emma paused. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

Henry grinned and held up the author's pen that was hidden in his jacket. Emma ruffled his hair fondly. "Nice job, kid, but I mean it. No more going off on your own!"

* * *

It was not particularly hard to follow Cerberus' trail, thanks to the level of destruction in his wake and, considering the amount of damage the beast had done to the outside of what would have been the school topside, Killian guessed Milah and Liam had taken refuge inside.

The group split up to search the hallways of the school, Snow looking around in horror at the damage to the entryway.

"Wherever will they make birdhouses for all the underworld birds," Regina grumbled with rolled eyes. They split up to cover more ground but Killian could still hear them bickering about curriculum in the distance as he moved down the hall.

"MILAH?" he called, making his way down one hallway as Emma and Henry took another. "LIAM?"

"Killian, is that you!?" he heard Milah's muffled voice from the end of the hall.

"Milah? Where the devil are you?"

"We're in a broom closet. What are you doing out there?"

"Doing out here? Coming to rescue you, of course!" Killian replied with a grin.

"You're doing an amazing job of it, Killian. Do you like our chosen locale? I figured the scent wafting from the boy's locker room would cover our trail. Liam, your elbow is becoming far too intimately acquainted with my spleen," he heard Milah grumble. "Are you made of nothing but hinges? Because all I can feel are knees and elbows."

There was a rustling for a moment before the door finally gave way and Milah and Liam half tumbled out of the tiny room.

"Would you believe me if I said I scared the beast away?" Killian asked with a grin as they tried to right themselves.

"Of course I would, Captain. I'd also believe he was gone when you'd arrived. Since I'm fifty-fifty on the matter, perhaps you could enlighten me?"

"With that grin?" Liam retorted, "He's obviously making up the whole tall tale."

"My brother is correct; the beast was long gone before we arrived. You provided an excellent distraction except… Milah did you _intend_ to make a cyclops of one of the creature's heads? I asked you to distract the beast, not create a mortal enemy of it."

Steps quickly approached, drawn by the sounds of conversation. "Killian?" David called, coming around a corner with Snow, "You find the-" he paused, when he saw them, rendering the question useless.

"Aye," Killian responded anyway, "they're alright."

"Is Henry alright?" Milah asked nervously, glancing between Killian and the newcomers she'd barely had the chance to meet since they'd found Killian, was that only a few hours ago? It seemed like an age...

"Fine," Snow assured her quickly, "though possibly grounded until he's 18 for wandering off."

"I suppose introductions are in order," David said glancing at Liam with obvious suspicion. He'd seen the man earlier when they'd regrouped at the bar but only briefly and Milah had been little more than a streak of dark hair running from the room. "David Nolan, Emma's father. I hear you can be a stubborn ass."

Liam looked taken aback for a moment then smiled slightly. "True enough. Liam Jones, Killian's brother." There was something of a challenge in the tone and Milah rolled her eyes.

"I'm Milah," she broke in "Killian's-" she trailed off awkwardly, finally she shrugged. "Former lover..."

"A pleasure to meet you," Snow replied, jabbing David in the side when she realized he was still eyeing Liam. "I'm Emma's mother, Snow."

"You're the other grandmother!" Milah said excitedly.

"Yes, I suppose I am," Snow laughed then her face fell and she glanced at Killian. "Does she-"

"Aye, she knows about Bae."

"I saw him before he moved on," Milah replied, "I try to be glad that he did not linger." She gave a small shrug. "I'd like to meet my grandson though… if you-"

"Henry's likely outside with his mother by now," Killian told her, "I am sure he would like to meet you."

"Oh, do you think?" she asked, glancing towards the doors, "Can I just-"

"Aye love, go-" Milah rushed through the door, not content with their measured pace. Emma and Henry were indeed back outside and she shot him a relieved look when she saw that he'd found them.

Killian glanced over at Snow and David, a pang of regret darting through him. They'd come all this way and he'd barely looked at them, let alone- "I realize that I haven't said it yet, but thank you."

"Of course," Snow replied, "after what you did- you don't deserve to be here." Killian's gaze fell and Snow pressed his arm gently.

"I didn't want Emma to do this, let alone drag everyone along-"

"Hey, we made our own choices," David interrupted.

"Really?" Killian's trademark smirk slipped over his face and David rolled his eyes. "I didn't know you cared."

"All right, I did it for Emma," David retorted. "And I guess you've grown on me a bit."

"Well, I tend to have that effect on people."

"All right, don't push it, pirate."

* * *

Liam was behind the bar, cleaning out glassware with a rag with more vigor than any glassware truly needed. Killian was fine, Milah was fine, Henry was fine, all gathered outside the bar like the big happy family they were and he was in here.

Not moping.

He was happy Killian had found a family. That Killian had found people who would look at him with warmth like Snow did, with love like Emma and her son. Who would tease him like Dav- The glass cracked and Liam slammed it back onto the rack and picked up another. _Damned things._

Killian had a family that wouldn't lie to him. A family that could set the example he'd never been able to set. Not the right way. The chime above the bar door rang and Liam winced, putting up his mask in an instant against the incoming barrage of charming Charmings.

It wasn't the Charmings. Killian poked his head inside and in spite of himself the tension in Liam's shoulders loosened.

"I'm glad the beast didn't take a bite out of you, brother." Killian said, dropping onto one of the stools. "Not everyone can manage to look so dashingly handsome with missing limbs."

"You don't think I would make a good Captain Hook?" Liam asked, still drying the same glass which had probably not been wet for several minutes at least.

"You'd make a terrible Captain Hook," Killian started with a smile, "too bloody nobl-" his voice died and he looked down.

"Is the lad truly alright?" Liam asked.

"The boy will be fine. Not a scratch on him," Killian replied.

"Aye... I'm glad the boy is safe." Liam looked down, refusing to look his brother in the eye.

Killian sighed and fished into his jacket pocket, "Usually when I detest myself so much as you are right now, it's with a drink in my hand. And it's on _this_ side of the bar," He tilted his head towards the stool next to him and Liam put down the glass, coming to sit next to Killian who offered him the flask, "Rum?"

Liam nodded gratefully and took it.

"I started drinking again after-" Killian said, "Never really stopped."

"After me?" Liam asked, then sighed "I can imagine. You weren't trying to _impress_ me anymore. Any more helpful tips?"

"I was _trying_ to survive without you," Killian snapped back, voice sharper than he intended. "Those men didn't deserve what you did to them," Killian said, "Not all of them. But I didn't know that. I couldn't measure up and I stopped trying to. You set the bar so high that all I could do was fail. So yes, I became something of an expert on loathing myself."

Liam flinched and Killian took the flask back from him, drinking himself before continuing

"Aye, I have some helpful tips. You have your drink, you hate yourself thoroughly until you're absolutely bloody certain that no one could possibly see past the darkness. Because you're not entirely certain that there _is_ anything past the darkness. Then you put away the flask and listen to the person next to you." He turned and faced his brother, waiting patiently until Liam met his eyes. "I love you, my brother and my captain. Nothing will _ever_ change that."

"Killian, I-" Liam gaped at him for a moment, his eyes brightening with unshed tears. "I never meant…" Liam shook his head in disbelief, and then everything he'd wanted to say for centuries pressed in on him at once. "When you were young, I know I sometimes gave the impression that I was disappointed. I wasn't. I was _scared_. When you would talk back to the rest of the crew, or worse, to the Captain… I didn't tell you to to show them more respect because they deserved it, I was proud of you for standing up in ways I never would. But I could never show that because I was terrified for the days when you crossed a line and I couldn't protect you from their retribution. I let you think I was disappointed because I couldn't bear the thought of cleaning your back from one more beating I failed to shield you from."

"I wasn't an easy one to protect, was I?" Killian gave him a small smile, "all hot temper and stubborn frustration…"

"I'm sorry, Killian. I'm sorry for letting you mistake fear for disappointment. I'm sorry for the times I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry I made you feel like you weren't enough. You were, you _always_ were."

"You were hardly more than a child yourself, Liam. You shielded me from far more than you should ever have had to."

"Had to? Killian, everything I did to protect you, the good and the bad, I _chose_ to do. No one forced me. No one even said I should. There were very few decisions that were truly mine to make in those years, but protecting you was. And it remains the best decision I ever made. Don't you know that's why I want you away from this place? If I can help you move on, you will finally be safe, beyond the reach of any harm."

"You still don't think I should go back with Emma?"

"Don't you _want_ to go to a better place? I could never protect you like I wanted, even before I died, and I can't protect you if you go back with Emma. But if your unfinished business was about Baelfire, as is Milah's, you can move on from this place together. You and Milah can be free just as Baelfire is. More free than I was ever able to achieve for you. You have the chance to move on to a better place with Milah. And I can't imagine a better… anything than an eternity with... the woman you love."

"With Milah- Liam… I have many regrets, my treatment of Bae chief among them. But I saw him grown. Things were not easy between us, but our business was not unresolved."

"You… You have a chance to move on with Milah. You truly intend to return with Emma?"

"I promised her a future, I swore to protect her heart and I left her wounded. Now she's risked everything to come down here for me- I promised Emma I would never stop fighting for us. Only my heart stopped beating and I thought the fight was over. Then she followed me down here, offered me a chance to keep fighting for us and I- Bloody hell- I must speak to her- And _you_ , you tell Milah how you've decided that she and I are to sail off together and pretend as though nothing has changed in 300 bloody years."

Killian was off the stool and out the door before Liam could even process the words, the bell chiming cheerily after him.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for waiting patiently while we sorted out the reorganization hell and fought the impulse to toss everyone in the drink! Leave us a note if you're still here !**_


	8. 8 the heart split

_**Chapter 8: the heart split**_

He nearly ran into Milah on the other side of the door, pulling up abruptly and reaching out to steady them both.

"That bad?" Milah asked sympathetically, and Killian chuckled.

"Hardly, but I've just realized that I must speak with Emma." She nodded and made to enter the bar but he stopped her short, his hand locking around her wrist before she could pull open the door. "Before you go in there…" he paused trying to determine how best to broach the issue. The issue of the look in her eyes when she looked at Liam, of Liam's certainty that there could be no better fate than an eternity with her.

"Have you murdered your brother, Killian?" she teased gently. "Normally I'd be glad to help you hide a body but down here it's usually not necessary."

"Funny, love. But no, Liam and I are fine. It's something else. In fact, I've a new story for you love, would you like to hear it?"

"Obviously the answer is 'yes,' but something about that look tells me I might regret it."

"Well, as in all the best stories it starts with a woman. Brave and adventurous and sometimes very sad… But she had great adventures, love. Traveled the realms with a man who loved her desperately. But one day her adventures took her beyond the reach of her lover. And they both grieved, for she was trapped in a place he could not reach her."

"I must admit there's something familiar about this story," Milah admitted, glancing down.

He smiled, continuing, "she gazed forever backwards, at the life that she once had. As did her lover. He grieved and raged, and did horrors in her name. He'd have burned the world, and burned with it. But before he could, someone stopped him. Someone found the ember in his heart not yet consumed by rage and hatred and bitter regret. What would you have him do, love?"

"You know perfectly well what I would have him do. If this is about Emma, you know-"

"Ah, but the story's not done. You remember what I always told you about interrupting a good story? You interrupt, you finish it. Tell me why? Tell me why you wouldn't wish him to burn?"

She sighed, discarding the pretense. "Because a heart as beautiful as yours should never be smothered by darkness."

"And when I tell you I love her, you wouldn't resent me? Not even a little?" Milah shook her head and he smiled at her. "You look at him the way you used to look at me, Milah. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"Look at– Liam?" she stammered, glancing towards the bar as though afraid he'd overhear. "Killian, he's your– And even if he– What of your story, Killian? Knowing me– loving me nearly destroyed you. Can you honestly tell me that your life wouldn't have been better had I stayed in my small little port? So even if– how could I risk that again?"

"Aye, he's my brother. And I can assure you that I am not particularly enjoying the images that come to mind when I am forced to dwell on the subject. But Milah, is this truly what you've been telling yourself all this time?"

"How could I not? It wasn't just your name I'd heard written in those stories but your pain. And I had the one person who could have helped you through those dark days," Milah sighed. "I have tried so hard, because he's your brother, because I can't do to him what I–"

"If my days with you could be taken from me," he interrupted, "I would not yield a single one. Not if Hades strung me up over the river again. Not if cyclops the hell-hound crunched my bones to dust. Not one day, do you understand?" She nodded weakly and he sighed. "My brave lass, don't punish yourself for leaving me. You were my own heart, of course I hurt when he ripped it out."

"And you were mine. Do you know what the woman in your story did without her love? She found the only other person she knew who had cared for him as much as she had. She told him stories, she wanted him to see the man his brother had become."

"I'm glad you persevered, I can't imagine Liam approved of my choice of piracy over making my complaints to the Admiralty like a good sailor. "

"Do you know the first thing I drew down here? Not scribbles on bar napkins, but the first real drawing I did?"

"I probably would have guessed Kevin," he teased, "You were so very fond of that Kraken."

"He was always maudlin on a certain day. More tense, easier to annoy, quicker to throw me out. A few years after my arrival I gave him a portrait of you for your birthday and he was…less quick to throw me out after that. He may not have always approved, Killian, but he's always wanted to know you."

"I'm sure Liam was pleased to learn that he won the argument about my hair in the end." Killian smiled, "He's a good man, Milah, the best I've ever known and I've known a great many. His only fault is that there is nothing he would not do for those he loves. It drove him to a desperate dark choice in life and it very nearly drove him to misery in death. I don't think the man even knows how to be selfish. But I mean to find out."

"Killian?" Milah said, her eyes glinting at the mischievous look in his eyes.

"Go on," he nodded towards the door. Milah nodded and went inside and Killian looked around to see Emma was hovering nearby,

"Sorry," she said, blushing slightly, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was just coming to see if everything was alright and… I didn't want to interrupt."

"It's all right, I wanted to speak with you as well." Emma looked suddenly nervous and he bent and kissed her lightly, "nothing bad, love."

"Everyone in one piece?" she asked carefully, something a little too tentative in her voice.

"Almost-"

"When Liam came out earlier he looked…" she started and then drifted off. "He _apologized_ to me. You wanna tell me what's going on?"

"He's been doing a lot of that lately." He pulled her closer, reveling in her nearness for a moment before speaking. "What did he apologize to you for?"

"We had a… difference of opinion about whether I should let you move on."

Killian chuckled, "I bet you did."

Emma smiled half-heartedly. "He told me some things that I needed to hear. I like to think I did the same."

"I'm sure that's true," he replied, turning to look into the bar through the window before spinning back around abruptly.

"Bloody hell, that was fast," he grumbled. Emma raised her eyebrows and Killian shook his head. "I think- I think I just... set up my brother with my former lover. I didn't mean to-" he paused, "I mean I did, actually but- Bloody hell, it's been a long day."

"Okay…" Emma said, thoroughly confused, "that's … unexpected?"

"Not truly," Killian replied. "She's a bloody cyclone, but he always did love testing his wits against a storm."

Emma leaned to peak over his shoulder through the window of the bar and he could tell by her expression that he did not want to turn around yet. "So… umm, how did that happen?"

"I was speaking with Milah. Swan, she looks at him as she used to look at me. And how could I resent for her what I've found? What you gave me, Emma, the chance to love again. And Liam, stubborn git, he was still trying to convince me to move on from this place with Milah. The damn fool looking at me exactly like when he tried to tell me he wasn't hungry when he'd given me the best of his own rations for three days straight. Are they still- Never mind I don't want to know."

"Killian, are you saying you've decided you don't want to stay here… or move on? I thought you wanted to, I don't know, be with your family?"

"You are my family too, Swan. And I promised I would never stop fighting for us. You gave me a path to do so. I'm sorry that I hesitated."

Emma grinned brightly and raised up on her tiptoes to kiss him, then draping her arms over his shoulders pulled him into a tight hug giggling in relief.

"I can't blame you for hesitating. It was wrong of me for not giving you a choice before. I wasn't about to take that away from you again. You just seemed so happy with them, I didn't want to take all that away from you."

"To see them, to have the opportunity to to speak with them again. To… I never got to say goodbye, to either of them. Never thought I would. But I've no intention of abandoning you, Emma. If you think you've a way back home, I am with you."

The door opened behind him and he turned. Liam was standing in the doorway, looking half-stunned.

"Emma," he asked, "might I have a moment with my brother, please?" Emma raised her eyebrows but nodded, still not entirely used to the lack of suspicion in his tone.

"When you're ready," Emma said, squeezing Killian's head, "I'm going to gather everyone inside."

"Did you truly mean what you said," Liam asked as soon as the door closed behind her, about Emma being your future?" Killian nodded, but waited for Liam to continue. "I kissed Milah," he blurted out and it was all Killian could do to bite back his grin. _Really, brother, you don't say?_ "Well, she kissed me," Liam went on, "and I… I know she was your love and the last thing either of us would ever want is to hurt you. But we became friends in the long years in this place. I don't think either of us meant… Killian, I fell for her so slowly I didn't even notice it happening." He paused and took a breath. "Well, Killian? Say something. Rail at me for betraying you or say you understand. Say _something_?"

"Would it make a difference if I objected?" Killian asked, his face a practiced blankness. "Would you give her up?"

"Of _course_ it would matter to me if you objected. But… she loves me too, Killian. I tried to give her up for you. I knew that forever with her was everything I wanted and I still told you to move on with her. But now that I know she feels as I do…Killian, please don't make me choose between the two people I love most. Whatever I do, I hurt one of you. I know that." Liam ran his fingers through his hair, a remembered gesture, perhaps from when his curls grew unruly in the wind. "You have a good life ahead of you with someone you love. Can't you be happy that Milah and I have that within reach too?"

The desperation on Liam's face almost made Killian yield then and there, but he had told Milah he intended to see if his brother were capable of just a little selfishness, and he intended to find out.

"A moment ago you were telling me the only way I could be guaranteed happiness was to go on to 'a better place' with her," Killian chuckled, giving it a touch of bitterness. "Now she loves you and my good life is topside again, is it? Sorry, mate, I'm just having a little trouble keeping up with what you've decided that I want at any particular moment."

Liam's face fell and it was all Killian could do to not reach for him, but finally something else flickered across his face. Anger.

"I didn't _decide_ what you wanted! You told me plainly that wasn't what you wanted so I accepted your decision. Yes, I believed that was best for you. Do you know why? It's because I love her! I _tried_ to give up everything for you, Killian, the same as I have always done. And if you hadn't told me that you'd chosen Emma, I would never have admitted my feelings for Milah. It would have broken my heart but I would have tried to persuade her to move on with you because I truly believed that would be the best chance at happiness for the two people I love most in this or any world." He took a breath as though stealing himself and looked Killian straight in the eyes. "I've made my mistakes, Killian. I'm not blind to that, and now neither are you. But you chose your love. You don't get to forbid us ours."

"About bloody time," Killian said.

"And you…" Liam started then stopped cold. "Wait… What?"

"Liam, you gave me the very food from your plate, the last drops from your canteen. You pulled the weight that I could not, took the punishments I well-deserved. And now the woman I love wears your ring around her neck and whatever we may face, she's always come home to me. And yet after all these years, I come to you grown and you'd have allowed yourself to endure eternal misery for my sake?"

"Are you really still surprised that I would sacrifice for you?" Liam asked, "You are still my little brother and I would still do anything for you." He paused, chuckling a little, "Nearly anything, I suppose, as you so… creatively demonstrated. Should I be grateful you didn't tell me she was kidnapped by pirates? Tell me brother, did I pass your test of courage?"

"You'd never have believed she was kidnapped by pirates. Took over their ship and sailed away in search of adventure, perhaps." Killian smiled. "I was not testing your courage, brother, as I did his. You never learned to be a little selfish, never had the chance."

"But I did fight for what I wanted, even all those years ago. Your companionship, your willingness to stand and fight no matter the consequences, someone to fight for, those were all things that I desperately needed, every bit as much as you needed anything I ever did for you." Liam paused, watching Killian carefully. "It's more than that- what is it, Killian?"

"Aye, it's more than that." Killian gave him a small smile. "You know, my time with Milah was hardly perfect. Some days were... harder. There were days when she missed Bae so desperately she was as likely to toss me overboard as kiss me. There were days I felt a farce of a captain and I drank until I could near hear your voice, and then I drank some more because I was terrified I'd forget it. When tempers flare and you wonder if perhaps she's a little more in love with the sea than she is with you…" Killian scratched behind his ear, trailing off. "When that day comes you both deserve to know that she is your selfish choice, as you are hers."

Liam watched Killian for a long moment. He cheeks were slightly flushed, and it made him look younger somehow, but it wasn't that which struck him in that moment. It was a sudden clenching in his chest as he wondered… when his little brother had grown so wise.

"Did you make her fight you for me as well," Liam finally asked with a chuckle, trying futilely to hide the curiosity behind the jest.

"I didn't have to," Killian replied with a small shrug, "I remember how she looks at the man she loves."

"Thank you, Killian," Liam smiled softly.

"Emma has a plan to get me home but Liam, you cannot remain here."

"I know," Liam replied, "but I cannot leave. Not until you're safe- How will you get home?"

"Emma believes we can share a heart. It's... not without precedent. If she believes it will work than I do not doubt that it will. But if you're still here when Hades realizes… his anger is not to be taken lightly."

Liam sighed, hesitating. "Are you certain?" Killian nodded. "We leave now then," Liam agreed, "I know my unfinished business, and Milah has had the chance to find some peace with her son, meet her grandchild. I have hope for the first time in a long time that I can leave this place, and that Milah can come with me. I'm sure your mildly insane optimistic new family would approve."

Killian smiled, "they would."

"If all goes well we won't see each other again in this place. So take your time, Killian. Maybe not three more centuries but live a good life with Emma. I always knew that someday you would be a fine captain and a great man. You've become a true hero in a way I never could. I'm proud of you, brother."

"And I you, my captain. I once thought it would have been easier somehow, if we'd have had the chance to say goodbye-"

"It isn't saying goodbye or not that makes it easier. It's knowing that neither of us will be alone this time, that we can both look forward instead of always looking back."

"Be careful," Killian warned, " take care of each other. And when you run out of tales to tell her, make them up– she doesn't mind, I swear it."

Liam clasped Killian's shoulder tightly then pulled him into a hug, "Goodbye, little brother. We will meet again under fairer skies."

"Until we meet again," Killian replied. He'd hardly pulled away from Liam before something hit him in the side, nearly toppling him off balance.

"Killian, be happy okay? Promise?" Milah was muttering into his chest as he regained his balance and wrapped his arms around her. "Watch after Emma and let her take care of you sometimes. Keep an eye on Henry and maybe tell him about me if you want-"

"Henry loves a good story, and I've got plenty of yours. I think they'll be easier to tell now." She nodded, smiling brightly as she pulled away, "Now go, you've a new adventure to seek."

He watched the street long after they disappeared until the sound of the door opening behind him brought him back to himself.

"You okay, Killian?" Emma asked, her fingers finding his.

"Aye, love, I will be." He squeezed her hand gently, "let's go home."

She led him back into the bar where everyone had gathered. Judging by the impatient look on Regina's face they had been waiting for him.

He mumbled an apology to the group and Regina stepped towards Emma, "Shall we get this heart split over with?"

Killian tightened his grip on Emma's hand nervously and she squeezed back glancing at him. "It will work," she reassured him, nodding to Regina. Regina reached out and Emma let out a groan as her heart left her body. Regina quickly split it in two, returning one half to Emma. She turned to him next and tried to press the heart into his chest but when she tried Emma let out a cry of pain and sagged against him.

"Stop," he begged unnecessarily, and before he'd time to say anything more Emma's heart was whole again and back in her chest.

"Why didn't it work?" Emma whispered, still leaning against Killian heavily. Before anyone had the chance to respond there was an all too familiar prickling on the back of his neck. His suspicions were confirmed when David drew his blade, watching something behind them. Killian and Emma spun and found Hades leaning easily against the bar. "What did you do?" Emma spat angrily. She raised her hands to attack but Killian grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"That wasn't me," Hades insisted, "I'm afraid there are laws of nature beyond even my control. His body is rotting away up there. Even if his soul could still return to it after all this time, I doubt either of you could stomach the smell."

"And so you're here to gloat, are you?" Killian spat.

"As much as that is usually my favorite hobby, in this case no. I'm here to offer something that I almost never offer. Hope. I can't guarantee it will work, and it only stands any chance if you are True Love, but there is a rumor of something that has worked in a similar case to yours. And if you get your girlfriend to stop trying to throw her magic at me, I will tell you how to get it."

"You expect us to believe that you've come here to offer us a way out? Pardon my skepticism, our time together didn't exactly leave us with the impression that my well-being was among your priorities."

"Not personally, no. You are an annoyance. More than that, you all are continuing to disrupt my operations down here. So I'm here to offer you a one-time opportunity. A portal will open at sunset. The living may leave this realm by that pathway. That, sadly, includes the pirate if you are able to get him a beating heart by that time."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Regina asked tersely. The world went dark for a moment and when her vision cleared again they were in the library in front of an elevator that she'd never been able to see before.

"According to the stories, ambrosia can be found at the base of this elevator, deeper than even I ever venture. If your heart is found worthy you will be able to reach it and your pirate's heart will beat again."

"What's the catch?" Emma asked suspiciously.

"Your death possibly," Hades said with a shrug. "Such tests are generally quite… unforgiving to those who fail."

"And we're just supposed to trust you, after everything you've done?" Killian asked.

"I really could not care less if you trust me," Hades said. "What I care about is that the living leave me and my realm alone. The portal will open at sunset, all who remain after will find that open war is a far less enjoyable prospect then the games you have been playing thus far." Hades was gone again before anyone could argue further and a heavy silence fell over the room.

"It's got to be a trap-" David muttered, finally breaking the silence. "After what he did to Hook, suddenly he wants to help?"

"What choice do we have?" Emma murmured, then glanced at Henry. The pen. Before she could say anything else Henry shook his head sadly holding up the papers he'd been doodling on.

"I've been trying. It… well it works as it should down here," he said guiltily. "It records the present. Any present you want, anywhere that you want. But I can't make it rewrite the present."

Emma nodded, "Thanks for trying kid, maybe you can try to write about Hades? Figure out what he's up to?"

"I'll try mom."

"If there's a chance he's telling the truth," Emma started hopefully, "Maybe he just wants us out of here, and we knows we won't leave without Killian?"

"Or" Regina retorted, eyeing her pointedly, "Maybe there's no chance and he knows it and he just wants to make up for one of the people we freed while we were here."

"Regina-" Snow chastised but Hook looked up.

"Hades is-," he glanced at Emma, "Emma if he simply wanted you to leave and knew I was holding you here, there's an easier way to ensure you've no reason to stay."

"The river-" Regina finished.

Hook nodded. "But if he's offering you a way out-"

"No," Emma insisted, a hint of desperation in her voice. "Please, I can't. If there's a chance it's the truth and I didn't even _try._ Killian I'd never forgive myself. Do you understand that?"

"I do."

"You said you were with me, Killian, are you still with me?"

"Always."

She nodded and Henry ran up to her and hugged her tight. "It's going to work," he said quietly, looking up at Killian. He had an easy faith that Killian envied desperately. He clasped Henry's shoulder for a moment but said nothing. Unwilling to tarnish his certainty with something that would surely sound like goodbye.

"You all have to get to the portal, if it's really there it might be some kind of trick too. Keep your eyes open and if it looks like it's about to close, _go."_

 _"_ Emma," Snow chastised gently but Emma shook her head. "We don't know how this magic will work. What if we can't come back the way we came? We need to know you're not waiting if another exit is available to us."

Snow nodded and hugged Emma. "Be careful, sweetheart."

David opened the elevator doors, kissing Emma's cheek as she moved inside. "Take care of each other," he said quietly just before the doors closed behind them.

* * *

 _ **A/N Oops, was that one of the plot twists you were hoping we would skirt aroooouuund. Sorry rotting!hook, heart split not working out as anticipated...**_


	9. 9 Firebird

_**Chapter 9 - Firebird**_ _(check out mabs art for this chapter once it posts on tumblr!)_

"This feels wrong," Liam mumbled under his breath. "If something goes wrong-"

"How are you going to fix it?" Milah asked. "Emma has magic, so does Regina. He's in good hands, Liam."

"This still feels wrong." He glanced back towards the bar. "I've never left him behind before… not on purpose. It could be decades or longer before I see him again."

"It's okay to miss him," Milah said gently. "I do too." She flipped open the sketchbook she'd brought with her, the only thing she'd brought with her, and pulled out a couple pages while he watched. She glanced at them for a moment and then offered them to Liam.

He glanced down and his breath caught. The page was covered in sketches. Mostly of Killian. Stolen moments, his eyes when he smiled, the ring Emma now wore around her neck.

She'd drawn Killian for him before, centuries ago and the page, creased and yellowed with age as it was, was folded carefully in his pocket. But there was something about these new drawings… there was a life to them that could only come from having seen him again, from seeing the way his eyes lit up when he smiled and- he ran his fingers over the page and smiled down at her.

"Thank you."

She nodded, flushing slightly. "Now stop procrastinating."

Liam rolled his eyes at her and folded the pages, carefully slipping then into the inner pocket of his jacket with the other.

"I'm not procrastinating," he informed her, "but I would feel better if I had a plan for this conversation. It's not every day you have to tell former crewmates you are responsible for their death."

"Let me make it easier for you, then," a voice came from around a corner and Silver slithered into view. Milah clenched her fist. The crew may not have _all_ deserved their fate but silver was still scum in her book. "They already know," Silver sneered. "Hades told us about your little secret. What you did to us." Then Silver was not alone, Liam's former crewmates converged on them from all sides and he stiffened, moving closer to Milah.

"You traded our souls for the eye of the storm. And now you're going to pay. Men!"

Before Liam could say a word a sack was thrown over his head and hands were pushing and shoving him. When they reached their destination Liam didn't even need the sack removed to know his location. Between the map in his head and the heat on his arms he knew where they were.

"You can remove them now." The sack came off to reveal the fiery river below and Liam glanced back at Milah. She nodded at him that she was alright and he looked back to Silver.

"There's no need for this," Liam said, "I came here to _tell_ you the truth, to give you all the chance to move on."

"And you thought that would be enough? That you'd just tell these men that you are responsible for their deaths and that would be it?" Silver sneered, "It's time to walk the plank."

"I'll gladly walk it. Just spare Milah, please. She has nothing to do with this."

"I think I've suffered her temper quite long enough," Silver spat and Milah gave him a venomous look that showed just how much she'd like to take that temper out on him right now. But she was distracted quickly by the column of blue flame that suddenly erupted behind him.

"Did someone decide to have a party and forget to invite me?"

Silver spun, "Lord... Lord Hades." Hades turned his attention to Silver for just long enough to send him hurtling over the side of the cliff before turning back to Liam and Milah.

"That's really just rude. I couldn't miss _this._ You two have been a real thorn in my side," Hades said, his voice as calm as if he were discussing the weather. "You helped a prisoner to escape, spread toxic hope through this realm," he glanced past Liam to Milah, "Blinded my cerberus. I'm going to take great pleasure in ridding my realm of you." He looked at them appraisingly. "Do I have a volunteer to go first?" Liam stepped forward placing himself more squarely between Hades and Milah.

"I won't let you hurt her." he said steadily.

Hades smiled. "No, but I'll hurt her anyway." He let out a small puff of air and Liam went flying over the edge the cliff. Milah scrambled for the edge, her cries lost to the roaring of the flames. Milah stepped back towards Hades, her jaw set in stubborn defiance even as the tears streamed down her face. She waited for the wind to take her too but Hades smirk fell as his eyes fixed on something behind her. She spun and saw a bright smile that she'd not even dared hope to see again.

"Liam?"

The flames were gone, replaced by the peaceful lapping of the ocean's waves knocking gently at the dinghy Liam was standing on. The _sea_ , she breathed in deeply. The smell of the sea. "How did you-" she heard Hades mutter then he shook his head and looked towards Milah. "Unfortunately for you, we still have unfinished business. And no, I don't mean with your husband, or lover, or child," he waved a hand dismissively, "or whatever petty drama you had lingering from your life before. No. You nearly blinded one of my dog's heads. The captain, it seems, is… unfortunately… free to go. But you are staying here in the Underworld."

Milah moved to dart past Hades, making for the boat, for Liam, for freedom, but Hades was too fast. Suddenly he was in front of her, cutting off her path. Refusing to slow, she only picked up speed, tackling Hades in the hope of surprising him enough to let her go, just long enough-

Her hands burned and she cried out, Hades _was_ thrown off balance but it didn't matter. She was engulfed in flames and then the smell of the sea was gone. The boat, the waves… _Liam,_ all gone.

The world reappeared around her in a haze of blue smoke and flame. Though her words had no means to escape she had still been yelling her stream of threats, weaving a colorful tapestry of all the expletives she rarely dared to use in recent decades. "-and when I'm done I will-"

It was the sudden return to the physical that cut her off more than the hard drop to her knees. Her nose was filled with the scent of old blood and the sickly sweet scent of the swirling green river.

"Do you recognize this place, Milah? You should. You rescued your pirate from this place." Hades strolled a few steps away from her, surveying his open dungeon with a sense of pride. "And now you are taking his place. Fitting."

"Oh. This place." Milah tried to ignore the sense of dread that filled her. "It's cozy. Open a few windows, I've lived in worse."

Hades turned to look at her, hands clasped behind his back. "You know, I really thought you had learned some respect centuries ago. I didn't think you would be susceptible to this _hope_ your pirate has been trying to spread. But the thing is, that's not even why you are here.

"It isn't?"

He knelt in front of her. "You are here because no matter what happens next, I win."

"Is that so? Because there's a boat full of sailors moving on that say you've already lost."

"It's possible. And I admit I would be quite saddened to lose Liam Jones in particular, he was an exquisite study. You know I think with a bit more attention on my part, he'd have walked into the river himself, just like so many others." Hades squatted, "but then I have you, don't I? I do wonder how much better the 'better place' will be, spending eternity knowing he left you with _me_."

Hades stood up and shrugged, "but I think I have time. He may yet walk into that river." He turned and walked away and Milah gaped- "That's _it?"_

"Why yes, for now. I know how much you like your alone time, let me give you something to contemplate. If he doesn't come, you get to spend eternity here with me. If he does… then I get you both, eventually. Enjoy your contemplations."

And then she was alone with only the smell of Killian's blood and the burning agony of her hands for comfort. She risked a glance down at her hands but looked away when she saw the blistered flesh. She tried to move her fingers and cried out as the fire reignited, making her gasp for breath she didn't need. She leaned back against the stone column eyes closed, listening for the sound of the clock.

"Come on, Liam," she murmured, "get the hell out of here-"

When the clock finally moved she counted every stroke. Which would have been useful… if she could remember how many sailors had been with Silver. She snuck another peak at her hands and the sight made her nearly ill.

"Milah!"

"No-" She nearly sobbed, both from the relief at the sound of his voice and the devastation of knowing what that it meant. And then he was there in front of her, eyes worried, "You're all right? I was afraid he would have-"

"What the hell are you still doing here, Liam," she asked mournfully.

"I couldn't just leave you here. Not alone. Not knowing what Hades could do to you. I love you, Milah."

"I love you, too, Liam, and that's why even though I am so beyond thrilled to see you again, I also know I should probably punch your arm for giving up this chance."

"I could never have left you alone. I know what it is like being truly alone down here, I couldn't leave someone I love to that."

He pulled the lock picks that Killian had left with him and unlocked her shackles. Carefully he loosened them trying to avoid the most damaged skin on her hands.

"Oh just do it," she insisted, pulling her hands out of the shackles and hissing in pain as they dropped to the floor. "Can we just get out of here?"

Milah leaned against Liam as they made their way back to the bar. She needed his presence as much as he needed hers. He would have reached out to take her hand if her hands weren't so badly hurt.

The door to the bar opened easily enough, oddly so, and he kept one arm wrapped around Milah as they made their way inside. It was still dim inside, but light filtered in through the windows. _Had the air always looked this red?_

He flicked on a light and was greeted with the sight of Killian, lying slumped on the ground against the bar. Liam froze.

"What the halibut are you still doing here?" Milah demanded. Of course Killian didn't answer, remained still and silent on the cold floor. _She didn't know_ , he realized with a start. _How could she not know?_ Killian's hair was damp and clumped and plastered to his face and it didn't rain… it didn't rain here. Liam tried to step forward but his muscles wouldn't seem to respond to his demands.

"Killian?" Liam asked, his voice a broken whisper. "No, no, no. It can't be."

"I really thought he could go back with her," Milah said, voice sad but calm. "You think there's any chance he left something for me to drink?" Milah asked, eyeing the well-pillaged bar. She tried to smile but it looked strained. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the strongest stuff at the pharmacy is cough drops. I'd get it myself but," she held up her hands. "Should probably make some coffee too for when he- Liam?"

Suddenly he couldn't see Killian anymore and a bolt of panic shot through him as Milah's face swam into view.

"Liam? Hey, look at me," he tried to move her out of the way so he could see Killian again but a cry of pain jolted him from his daze. He had grabbed her hands, why had he-

"Oh- _oh_ Milah, I am so sorry, are you- of course you're not-" his eyes slipped past her to Killian again. He was still limp against the bar, but the damp hair sticking to pale skin was gone. He shook his head.

 _A trick. Just another trick. It's not Leviathan Shoals. It's not._

"I'm sorry," he murmured again. His eyes drifted back to Killian before he forced his focus back to Milah. "Here, sit. I need to…" he shook his head. "I still have a first aid kit in the back." His voice was steadier as he set a course. "I'll get it. Stay here." He stood frozen for a moment longer, staring at Killian's still form again.

"Liam?"

His hands were shaking and he squeezed them tight for a moment, fighting for control. Milah was watching him far too carefully as he half ran into the back room. He grabbed the first aid kit from the bathroom, pausing only a moment to splash icy water on his face before he hurried back out to her, to them.

It helped, having a specific course to set himself to. Get the kit, clean the wounds, try not to hurt her anymore than he already- he caught a glimpse of Killian out of the corner of his eye and nearly jumped. Damp hair. Still. Lifeless. Gone-

 _No_!

Milah needs help now. He needed to focus on Milah. He needed to trust her that Killian's situation didn't need immediate attention. He led her to the sink behind the bar and glanced down the bar. Killian had clearly rummaged quite a bit before deciding that that swill really _was_ the best the underworld had to offer.

"Ladies choice," he said pulling out a shot glass for the best painkiller they had access to.

"Anything but gin," she said with a small smile.

He nodded, pouring generously. He nearly offered the glass to her out of habit but one look at her hands reminded him that she was going to need help. He raised the glass to her lips and helped her to drink when she nodded she was ready.

When she was finished he turned to the sink and started the water, checking the temperature himself before glancing up at her. She was not watching him so closely anymore, her eyes were locked on the counter trying not to flinch away from him as he reached for her hand.

"I'm sorry, this is not going to be pleasant-" he warned and she nodded tersely. She managed, mostly, to hold still, but was less successful biting back the whimpers of pain as he worked, cleaning her hands under the running water as gently as he could manage. He knew it was necessary, but every sound cut him like knives.

He turned off the tap and opened a drawer for a clean towel, gently drying her hands. Silent tears were streaking down her cheeks now and knowing it was necessary did nothing to soothe the ache in his heart.

"Easy, my love," he murmured, finally putting down the towel. "The worst of it is over."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice shaking as he reached for the first aid kit for bandages.

"For what?" he asked. "For trying to fight your way back to me? For getting hurt? You couldn't help that."

"For not being able to handle the pain like you and Killian can. You must think I'm so weak."

He reached for her and gently wiped away the tears that had streaked down her cheeks. "My dearest Milah, I know your strength too well to think you weak," he gave her a pained smile. "Killian and I… We've had more practice with physical pain. I would never wish you to be able to even imagine the kind of pain it would take to take _this_ in stride." He finished wrapping her hands as gently as he could manage.

"You all right?" he asked when he was finished and she nodded jerkily. He led her back to one of the booths and she sank down into it, breathing deeply in an attempt to calm herself.

He sat opposite from her in the booth, trying not to look at Killian, knowing if he turned he was as likely to see the boy with seawater in his lungs as he was to see the man whose despair drove him to drink too much. Neither were particularly pleasant to think about but the latter… the latter could be fixed.

"Liam?"

"Hmmm?" Liam hummed, his eyes finding Milah again.

"You'd have been a good father. You certainly got plenty of practice worrying like one." He nodded distractedly and Milah smiled. "Did you ever think about that when you were alive? I mean, having children of your own?"

Liam was quiet a moment, his eyes drifting back to Killian of their own accord. "I did though. What's the expression? Possession is nine tenths of the law?" He gave a small shrug, "Brennan left and I stayed. Killian is _my_ flesh and blood. He bears _my_ surname. He is the child I raised and he is the legacy I left behind. I couldn't always protect him like a father could have. I was too busy keeping him alive and keeping us together to build the life for him that he deserved. But I tried. I made my mistakes, but I like to think I did well by him."

"You did, Liam."

"It kills me to see him like this, Milah, I thought after all he'd been through, he'd finally escaped and now- Milah, we almost left. If we had, he'd have been alone down here."

"But we didn't, and he's not alone."

"Hades is not just going to let us go."

"No, he's not," Milah agreed. "Would you get me a glass of water," She asked with a sigh, looking over at Killian. He nodded and hesitated when he set it in front of her.

"Can I help-"

"Not why I wanted it-" Milah said, picking up the glass between her wrists and moving over to the bar. She dumped the water on Killian's head and he sat bolt upright,hitting his head on a barstool in the process and groaning. Milah winced and squatted in front of him.

"Killian, you're supposed to be back home by now, with Emma," she said, voice gentle. "What are you still doing here?"

* * *

 **Chapter 9 alternative title; in which everything goes wrong and you abruptly remember that we told you there would be ~3 more chapters?**


	10. 10 Plan C

**Chapter 10 - Plan C**

 _"Killian, you're supposed to be back home by now, with Emma," Milah said, voice gentle. "What are you still doing here?"_

"Why, getting very very drunk, of course-" he slurred, shaking his head. Liam moved to his side, helping him to his feet and sitting him down, swaying precariously on a stool. "If this is some fresh torment, Hades, you've done better work. How about you sod off and let me drink in peace?" Killian reached for a half-empty bottle on the bar and took a pull while Liam and Milah watched in shock. "Damn- that burns. Oy- where does it come from, the cinnamon? Some poor sot whose only job down here is to make cinnamon whisky he can't drink? Have you tried cinnamon whisky, quite delightful really."

"Since when do you drink cinnamon whisky?" Milah asked, eyebrows raised.

"I tried, you know. I went to the docks and waited for the boat and I told myself _she's safe now, she's not your unfinished business_. Doesn't feel like she's safe. I just need to know- Maybe I can fix the phone… What was the question?" Milah glanced at the bottle in his hand in reminder and he chuckled. "Oh, right, so I came here and all I could find was bloody coconut rum. Why would you ruin perfectly good rum with coconuts? But this … it smelled like cinnamon. Very good spice cinnamon. Emma used to- well I suppose she still does- I've no clue how to fix a phone-"

"What the devil happened while we were away, little brother?" Liam interrupted Killian's rambling.

"You know bloody well what happened you great blue git."

Liam reached past him, grabbing the bottle and setting it back on the bartop as Killian tried to move it to his lips again.

"If you think I'm Hades instead of your brother, you really have had quite enough, Killian. I know what it is like to be alone down here, but _you_ aren't." Liam insisted, trying to catch Killian's eyes. "We're real, and we're here."

"We've played this game before, Hades. String me up and make me bleed if you must, I can't stop you. But I do not intend to let you use them against me now that they are free of you."

"So ask us something he wouldn't know. Ask me about anything that will convince you that you aren't alone. Ask Milah about the sea monsters she is always drawing in the margins of your charts and on the napkins at the bar. Ask me about the ring Emma wears around her neck-"

"The ring- How did you-"

"Because it was mine first. It's really us, Killian."

Killian tried to get to his feet, swaying a bit, "Oh bloody hell- I thought you said this stuff was weaker here? Don't think I've actually lost my sea-legs in a century or two."

"It _is_ weaker, Killian," Milah said in a mildly exasperated tone. "But it still gets the job done eventually! Come on, up you get. Let's find you somewhere to lie down while Liam starts the coffee."

"Best do as she says, Killian. I haven't see you this drunk since…" Liam trailed off. "What happened?"

"We passed the test," Killian said, shuffling uncertainly to his feet, "but the ambrosia was long dead. Another trick to keep her from being able to get home. I- I sent her home. I promised her I would move on. I tried. But I don't know how to keep my promise. So I did the one thing I'm good at-"

"Hush with that, now," Milah warned, "or it will be more than water you get to your face." It was a futile threat, of course, and more gentle than it should have been. She guided him the best she could toward the closest table. "We'll figure out a way, Killian."

"How?" Killian moved easily enough without much resistance, muscle memory nearly forgotten over centuries still recalling how futile it was to resist her.

"We just...will." Milah got him sitting in a booth and had to use her elbows to push him further. His hand was on one of her bandaged hands before she could get it away and she hissed at him. "Let go before I bite your festering fiesta face off."

Killian was quick to let go. "What happened?"

Milah let out a slow, pained breath as she left him on the table. When she came back she had a bottle of the much hated coconut rum balanced precariously between her arms. She put it in front of him. "You may have noticed I have a bad habit of lashing out at mentally unstable immortals when my 'happily ever after' is threatened. Open." He made a face but did as instructed. "We have one hand between us right now and you get to hold the bottle." Milah had him hold it up and tilt it a bit. When she smiled at him it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'll be fine. I just need something for the pain."

It was a bit awkward, him holding the bottle and her drinking from it. Were he completely sober or if they had double the hands to work with it probably would have gone better. Still, most of it made it in, and that's all that was important.

Mostly.

"It smells disgusting," Killian informed her, nose wrinkling.

Milah arched an eyebrow. "Well if _someone_ had left something palatable other than this and _tequila-"_

"Tequila isn't...that bad."

"The last time I drank it I woke up engaged to a duke," she reminded him. "Or was it a duchess? A bit more." Killian dutifully held the bottle until she held up a bandaged hand and he pulled it away, setting it on the table as far from himself as he could reach.

"You're lucky I hold tequila better than you do, love, or you'd have woken up married." She tilted her head at him and a smile tugged at his lips, "Bloody rude to ask your lover to perform the ceremony."

Milah chuckled, "Is _that_ what happened? I woke up so annoyed with you and I hadn't a clue why. Took me days to shake the feeling."

Liam brought coffee, setting a mug in front of Killian who nodded gratefully and took a sip. "You were supposed to be gone," Killian finally said, "both of you."

"We… well, we tried to move on," Liam replied, "but Hades interfered. Had I known you would be trapped here still, I never would have tried."

"And Hades?"

Milah shrugged, "He kept me from leaving but didn't seem interested in sticking around. He's still here, somewhere."

"If he'd kept them from leaving, if he hurt them... he'd probably be taunting me with it by now," Killian commented, looking up at Liam with an expression that begged for confirmation.

"Aye, Hades is not subtle," Liam offered reassuringly.

"Perhaps he really did just want them out of his domain," Killian mused.

"And now that he's succeeded who's to say he won't attempt to pick up where he left off," Liam said, glancing at Killian. "I think it's safe to say we've already made an enemy of our malevolent overlord. Perhaps we should ensure we thoroughly deserve his ire."

Killian looked up and Liam stood, returning to the bar. He bent below and there was the sound of wood creaking as he removed something from a hiding place behind the bar. When he returned to the table he placed several folded and worn pages onto the table for them to see. Killian finished reading first and looked up at Liam in surprise.

"When did you find this?"

"My first years here were…" Liam glanced down, "productive. Mapping the passageways below were not my only accomplishment. I found these papers during… The details are unimportant. The originals remain with Hades, this is a copy by my own hand. I thought it best Hades not know the original had been discovered."

"If this weapon truly exists," Killian whispered, "it means-"

Liam nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Milah snapped, annoyed. "We could have searched for it."

"I stopped looking for it," Liam said quietly, "the day you first walked into my bar."

Milah shook her head in confusion, " _Why_?"

"I realized I had something left to lose, someone to protect." Liam looked down, studying the table top. "You were his love. I would have protected you with my very soul, even that first day."

Milah's mouth opened but she couldn't seem to find the words. Killian leaned forward, grasping Liam's arm tightly for a moment.

"And you did, brother. It's one more debt that I'll never be able to repay."

"Awfully sentimental for a pirate," Liam commented in an attempt to lighten the mood. The words slipped past his lips without really thinking and he knew instantly by the stiffening of Killian's shoulders that they had been a mistake. It was a phrase he'd not directed at his brother except one other time, in a place Liam very much wished he could forget.

Killian's gaze turned probing. For a moment he said nothing and Liam thought the slip might go unchallenged, but Killian looked down again, then back up at him.

"That… that reminds me of the tale you used to tell me as a boy," he said quietly. "Leviathan Shoals. Do you remember?"

 _Do I remember?_ Liam tried to keep his face indifferent. _How could I possibly forget?_

"Heard it from some of the lads on the ship," he replied instead. "about a place where monsters lurked beneath becalmed seas and the mists drive men to madness and desperation."

"Aye, green mist and madness in its depths. A legend- Do you believe that, brother? That the shoals are just a legend?" Milah stiffened and glanced at Killian. When she'd been alive Killian had told her the tale of his visit to the Leviathan Shoals as a warning of the deceptions that could tempt you at sea. It wasn't until years after her arrival that she'd learned that Killian's phantom of Liam had truly been his brother. She looked down at her lap again, nervous that Killian would see the truth in her eyes if he cared to look at her. He didn't, his eyes remained fixed on his brother.

"Of course it's just a legend, Killian," Liam replied with as much certainty as he could muster. It had been centuries, why torture Killian with the truth now? He only hoped Killian had not noticed Milah pointedly staring at her lap as she pretended to be fascinated with the edge of her bandage. "There are a great many strange things in the realms, but I have no reason to believe in that one."

"I've seen them, brother," Killian said, "the shoals." If Liam had any doubt about withholding the truth from Killian it evaporated when he saw the relief on his brother's face. "Those green mists were a beacon for us when the ship was listing and ballasts failing. The storm was worse than any I've ever seen save one, and we two were the only survivors that day. But the storm drove us right to the shoals, as though we were meant to find safe harbor there. Of course it wasn't a safe harbor at all, but it kept us off the ocean floor."

"We sailed to another realm in a flying ship," Liam commented with a shrug, "so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at an old legend holding some truth."

I saw…" Killian hesitated and Liam tried not to flinch, tried not to remember what Killian had seen. "I thought I saw… things that could not be. And I wanted so desperately to believe them…"

"Well, I'm certainly glad you saw through the Shoal's deceptions and escaped safely," Liam said stiffly.

"More coffee?" Milah asked cheerfully, the slump of Liam's shoulders making it impossible for her to not at least attempt to give him reprieve.

"It was a near thing," Killian admitted, as though he hadn't heard her. "I've seen sirens change form and heard the mermaid's songs, I knew it was a place of deception and I didn't think there was anything it could show me that would sway me from my course but-" Killian looked up and Liam must have allowed the mask to slip because Killian looked suddenly startled. "Liam- what is it?"

"You think I don't know what it showed you, little brother? You think I can't guess that there are few faces that could sway you from any course you set? I too know of sirens, Killian, and I hate the idea of one using my face to lure you into a trap."

"Lewis tried to warn me. You were dead, I knew it to be true. You went cold in my arms," Killian's voice trembled slightly but he went on. "I stitched you up with my own hands. I watched you sink into the depths. Yet I so desperately wanted to believe that by some magic or miracle-" Killian trailed off again and Liam resisted the urge to take his brother in a hug, certain he'd never be able to keep up the facade if he did so. When Killian spoke again his voice was quiet. "He begged me to come back, you know. Refused any manner of rescue that did not involve the _Jolly_ returning from the brink of escape to those treacherous waters. She's a fine ship but she'd never have managed the crossing again. She was riding low, not settling right. The ballast pumps were barely functional. I knew it wasn't really you… but-" Killian swallowed hard. "Liam, I'll never forget the sound of you begging me not to go-"

"A good captain knows the limits of his ship. I'm glad you didn't follow a dead man into the depths. I'm proud of you for not falling for the desperate words of a… phantasm."

"Proud of me?" Killian retorted, " Bloody hell Liam, I've rarely been less proud of myself in all my damn life. I sailed away with no way of knowing for _certain_ that I was not abandoning _you_. If it had been you- if the monster truly had perished and it was a simple matter of making repairs and trying again another day-?" Killian swallowed hard. "How deeply I despised myself that day and so many after, for the merest chance that I chose wrong."

"Of course I'm proud of you, Killian. You put your ship and your crew ahead of a ghost. That's what a captain has to do. And you are a great captain. If… if it hadn't been a trick, I never would have called you back, not with the _Jewel…_ the _Jolly_ riding low. You forget, she was my ship before she was yours. I would have known never to call a listing ship back into monster infested waters. And repairs? You make for safe harbor for repairs. You don't make repairs in a battleground, not if you have any other choice. If it hadn't been a trick, Killian, if I had truly been there, you were still not wrong."

"Are you mad?" Killian retorted, "Of course it would have been wrong. I've never once forgotten that she was your ship first, but I am a hell of a captain and she's a hell of a vessel. You think we've never made emergency repairs in a battleground before? For far less valuable a prize, I assure you. What do you suppose your life is truly worth, brother? That you would think it right to let yourself burn so that I don't risk a few repairs in dangerous waters? Would you throw yourself from the ship to save me a skinned knee too?" Liam was quite certain he went pale, the old burning of scars on his back reminding him exactly what would drive him to such a choice. "Bloody hell Liam, your life is more than a currency to be paid," Killian continued.

"Fear not. I would never throw myself from the ship for anything near so petty." He sighed, "How much risk am I to consider acceptable, little brother? How much risk would you consider acceptable from a lad you would do anything for? How much risk is acceptable for Henry to shoulder for you? You don't have to hold your own life cheap to believe there are things, and people, worth dying for. I know a pirate who just died for his family who would understand that."

"Henry is hardly more than a child, Liam, you know that's not fair. And If I hadn't died Emma's family would have in my stead. It's hardly comparable to a bit of a risky nautical maneuver. I love you, brother. I love your courage, your loyalty, your devotion to protecting those you love. Even the damn foolish self-sacrificial tendencies. But I'm a competent captain, I've a good hand with the blade, cleverer than a fair few if I do say so myself…"

"Aye, Killian. I know it's not the same. I know that in my head. It's not as easy as you make it sound though, going against my instincts to protect you as I did when you were a child. I don't think it would be possible for me to be more proud of the man you have become. But some part of me will always see you as a ten year old boy who needed someone to keep the lamp burning or he couldn't sleep. And I know you don't need that anymore, and I do trust you. But it's not so easy to shed the habit of centuries."

"So trust me _now_ ," Killian looked up, meeting Liam's eyes. "Liam, tell me the truth, _please._ Was it _truly_ a phantom that I abandoned that day." Milah had entirely given up her pretense of not listening, she was watching him with wide eyes but at this particular moment neither brother would have noticed her if she'd sprouted wings and flown away.

A lump formed in Liam's throat and he swallowed hard. Still, no words came so Liam simply shook his head, watching as the horror, guilt and pain settled onto Killian's face in turn.

"Devil take me-" Killian murmured under his breath and Liam leaned forward to take his hand.

"He would have. Killian, Hades _would_ have taken you. If I'd known it was really you I would _never_ have asked you to return. But the mists… Killian, I thought you were a mirage as well. I was desperate not to lose you and- Killian, I'm so sorry. I'd have doomed you. I'd have doomed you all."

"I abandoned you-" Killian leaned back in the booth, eyes distant. "You were right there in front of me and I abandoned you."

"I wasn't," Liam sighed, "not really. It _was_ a trick. _I_ was a trick, and you saw through it. Killian, I am so prou-"

"Don't-" Killian said quietly, "Not for that."

Liam sat back and ran his fingers through his hair. Then he leaned forward again. "No. Killian, you wanted the truth? Here it is. You sailed away and it broke my heart, I admit it. And that's when Hades came to me. He put me in a stone cell and taunted me for calling you back. And then-" Liam paused and he felt Milah lean closer, a silent support that he hadn't realized he'd needed until it was there. It was something he'd never even told her, what happened next, never told anyone. "And then he took me back to the shoals, and he showed me what could have been. You turned around and I tried to warn you. But it was only his magic that allowed us to even speak in the first place. I couldn't speak to you, I couldn't warn you."

"It wasn't me," Killian said bitterly. "I never turned around."

"I didn't know. Not when you searched a burning ship for me, not when the beast attacked again. Not as you fought to save the ship and not- and not when it dragged you into the sea." Liam swallowed hard, "he left me in that cell with your- with your body-"

"Liam-" Killian started.

"Let me finish now, brother or I never will," Liam stood, moving to Killian's side of the booth. His hand went to Killian's hair, still damp from the water Milah had dumped on him to wake him. He brushed a wet strand from Killian's forehead, "Still wet from the sea and so cold-" Liam mused softly, for a moment as though not entirely certain he was still speaking aloud. Finally his hand fell and he shook his head. "All I ever wanted was to protect you. For you to have a chance, a _life._ And in one cruel moment, the one good thing I had ever done- I was trapped here a decade not knowing for sure if one of Hades' cruel visions were reality. If I'd had to exist an _eternity_ knowing that your death was my fault?" Liam shook his head and Killian's jaw clenched.

"Hades has much to answer for," Killian seethed. "If I could have saved you from that-"

"I was already dead, brother. Without a beating heart I couldn't have passed through to rejoin you in life even if you _had_ survived Hades' trap."

"A beating heart-" Milah said abruptly and Liam glanced up at her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Killian," she cried, excitement growing in her voice, "Liam said that you intended to share a heart with Emma?"

Killian looked down, "I've been dead for too long-"

"But Liam had been dead for even longer when Hades' magic allowed him to speak with you there. If Emma shares her heart with you _there,_ you simply sail home. It won't _matter_ how long you've been here or what's become of your body above."

"There?" Liam asked, a trace of nervousness in his voice. "You don't mean- Milah, even getting there would be courting oblivion. Sailing is dangerous enough when the waters do not seek your soul. And Hades would certainly follow."

"Emma has magic and a beating heart," Milah continued, "she could fix this crystal if we could find it, get it to her!"

"Get it to her?" Killian asked, "you mean to have _Emma_ sail to _Leviathan Shoals?"_

"That's the easy part, the phone may not allow her to speak to you Killian, but you can speak to her, you can give her a heading, tell her where the charts she needs are, how to gather what remains of your crew. Surely there are still sailors worth trusting in that town of yours?"

"Aye, but-"

"The hard part will be finding the crystal-" she continued.

"I've seen the harbor love," Killian protested, "not a seaworthy vessel in the lot. For a voyage where a sprung leak could cost your soul?"

"That's not… entirely true, Killian," Liam said.

Milah's grin broadened, "Everything has an dilapidated echo down here, Killian. Buildings, cars, _vessels."_

"The _Jolly_ is here?" Killian asked astonished.

"We've been calling her the _Jolly Jewel_ ," Milah said proudly.

"I'm not surprised you did not recognize her," Liam said, "to avoid undue attention Milah and I repaired very little within view of the harbor, but beneath the grime she's seaworthy. Barely, but seaworthy."

Killian thought for a moment, thinking back to his brief time at the docks, the only vessel of the same general structure as the _Jolly_ was… "Bloody hell, _that's …_ she's listing at near 30 degr-" Killian started then he stopped a small smile creeping onto his face. "The ballasts."

"Aye," Liam affirmed, "An illusion that will linger no longer than the time it takes to empty the ballast."

"And the crystal?" Killian asked, "you said you stopped looking, have you narrowed down the possibilities?"

"Quite a bit." Liam looked down for a moment, "I spent years in search of that object, and I've searched nearly every step of Hades underground passageways. I stopped looking, but... I have searched everywhere else."

Milah gaped, "you _know_ where it is?"

"I suspect."

"Well?" she prodded.

"There is a cell. A stone room in his dungeons. It's where… It's the only room that I could not bring myself to re-enter." Liam's voice trailed off. "I suspect Hades knew I was poking around, knew I would avoid that room if possible."

"We'll need to act fast, if Hades puts together what we're doing we'll all end up in the river," Killian said.

"We should split up," Liam said, "do all tasks simultaneously so he'll have no chance of putting together the plan until it's too late. Milah, you can't make final preparations of the ship anymore with your hands so injured, so you head to the mayor's office. Figure out how to fix the phone either by bribe or by threat and contact Emma."

Milah nodded.

"Killian, write down exactly what Emma needs to know to lead your crew to the shoals. You'll be finishing final repairs on the _Jewel_."

"Are you certain, Liam-" Killian asked, realizing what task Liam had left for himself.

"I know the passageways down to that damned stone cell better than either of you," Liam said confidently. "If the item we need is there, I _will_ find it."

"I'll need time," Milah admitted, "to find what we need, assuming it's even in the mayor's office, my part will likely take the longest. And without the use of my hands…"

"So we play Hades games for just a little longer," Liam sighed. "The bar doesn't open until late in the day, I'll spend the mornings and afternoons assisting Milah in her… 'mayoral duties' until we know exactly what we need to do. Killian, he'll doubtless come up with some unappealing task to fill your time. Just do it without complaint. We need to convince him we're no further risk to him."

"We should speak of this as little as possible… if he overhears-" Milah quieted at the familiar prickling on the back of her neck.

"Overhears what?"

"Lord Hades-" Liam managed.

" _Lord_ Hades," Hades grinned, "someone finally learned some respect!"

Killian giggled, outright giggled and to Liam's surprise when he looked over at Killian he appeared drunker than ever, eyes unfocused and swaying back and forth in the booth.

"I think he already knows I'm a drunk, Liam," Killian whispered loudly.

"We'll get him sobered up," Milah said, quickly backing up Killian's story. "He'll do his job down here just like the rest of us. We don't want any more trouble."

"What shall we have our resident drunk do," Hades asked tauntingly. "I think I remember Silver saying he's very fond of scrubbing decks."

"No," Liam's eyes went wide, "those waters aren't safe. He might-" Liam looked over at Killian, still swaying precariously in the booth.

"The littler captain best watch his step then. It would be truly tragic if he were to topple into the river." Hades made a little gesture with his hands and grinned. "Splash."

Liam launched himself from the booth at Hades, but before he reached him Hades vanished in blue flame. When Liam pulled himself off the floor and turned back towards the booth he had a grin on his face.

"Well played, brother," Killian said, his eyes focused again. "But what would you have done if he hadn't vanished?"

"Something very stupid, doubtless," Liam admitted, "but I couldn't ruin the good luck we've had by making Hades suspicious now. And me not reacting to him threatening your very soul _would_ make him suspicious."

Killian glanced at Liam and Milah, his smile creeping across his lips again "this _could_ work."

Liam grimaced, "or it could go horribly wrong and doom us all."

Milah rolled her eyes dramatically, "optimistic as always, Liam."

"Well, the last time I was excessively optimistic I died so... forgive my hesitation."

"We've no choice but to try," Killian said with a small shrug. "If we remain under Hades power he will destroy us eventually."

Milah nodded her agreement, glancing to Liam for the final vote. He hesitated longer than either Killian or Milah. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many things beyond his control. But Killian was right. The alternative was no safer.

"Agreed," he said grudgingly, reaching for the bottle that Milah had left on the table and pouring it generously into his coffee. He shuddered at the taste and glanced at Milah. "Killian's right. This stuff is awful."

It didn't stop him from finishing his coffee in a few large swallows.

* * *

 **A/N: Apparently the fact that this only needed 15 minutes of editing didn't keep me on my schedule of once a week! Sorry about the delay. Thanks for the reviews and messages, They're very motivating!**

 **Just when you thought there weren't any more wounds to pick at... :P**

 **Here goes plan C. Or D. Or maybe E at this point...**


	11. 11 Into the stone room

_**Well then. Yes hi. I have no excuses. Well I have many many excuses but at the end of the day do they really matter. For anyone still invested I present c11 of 12. I'll post c12 later today. It's too long to be one chapter but I know you all have waited long enough.**_

 _ **Where were we. Liam and Milah are trying to help Killian escape the underworld right under Hades nose. Away we goooo:**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 11**_

The pages blurred in front of Liam's eyes, he wasn't certain if it was his fitful sleep the last few days or simply the dozens of books blurring together, none of them with any reference to the phone at all, much less how to fix the damn thing when their malevolent overlord rips it out.

He glanced up at a sound from the hallway and Milah entered, annoyance radiating off of her in waves.

"Tell me you've found something," she said tersely.

"Not unless you want to hear a grand tale regarding zoning regulations for the cemetery. They're... rather complex."

Milah sighed in exasperation, picking at her gloves self-consciously. She was frustrated, clearly. At the moment, going through books was logistically difficult for her and however many times he warned her to give her hands time to heal she had all the patience of a caged dog.

"We'll find something," Liam murmured, "you must have patience-"

"Patience?" Hades voice echoed through the room before he appeared in their sight, "is a virtue I have just run out of." When Hades appeared, he was not alone. His fist was clasped tightly in Killian's hair who stumbled and fell to his knees despite Hades' grip. Blood dripped steadily from his sagging form, slowly staining the carpet at his feet.

"Killian!" Milah cried, starting forward then stopping abruptly when Hades jerked Killian's head back in warning.

"Little brother hasn't been following the rules," Hades drawled, turning his attention to Liam who had yet to speak. He was frozen in place, his hand still poised on the page he had been turning. "He had one job, swab the deck. Every day. All day. But what should I find when I dropped in? He's been poking around below. I think he means to sail away!"

"To where?" Liam finally spoke, his voice a practiced calmness that he'd often had to employ when Killian had gotten into trouble with their masters. This was no different, One more angry master to appease, for just a little while longer… "There is nowhere to escape to. He knows that." Killian managed to lift his head ever so slightly to meet Liam's eyes, there was an apology there beneath the blood matted hair and bruised skin and Liam's heart clenched. Just a little while longer...

Hades released his grip and Killian crumpled to the floor, a whimper escaping him at the pressure on wounds Liam didn't dare think about just yet. Then Hades was offering Killian a flask, dropping it in front of him when he didn't take it. Liam's eyebrows furrowed at the sign of civility from Hades of all people, but Killian shrank back from the offered flask.

"My patience is at its end." Hades shrugged, "I'm tired of your games, of your disruptions. Drink. End your pain and your games. Or they will."

"Or they will?" Milah retorted, unable to keep the mocking tone from her voice. " _They_ are not afraid of a little rum."

Hades smirked but didn't say a word and Liam could practically feel the blood drain from his face. River water. Only that could make Hades smirk like that.

"Don't-" Liam started, jerking forward, but Hades held up a hand.

"One step, Captain. One more step and I snap my fingers and all three of you will take a swim."

It was enough to make him freeze but not enough to keep him quiet. Not when Killian slowly reached for the flask, uncorking it and narrowly avoiding Liam's eyes.

"Killian, don't- _please,_ don't-"

Hades grinned. "It's up to you," he taunted Killian. "You or them."

Killian looked up, finally meeting Liam's eyes briefly.

"I'm sorry-" Killian whispered, his voice barely loud enough to be heard but the decision already there in his eyes. He raised the flask in a mock toast and put it to his lips and then, before Liam could say another word, he was gone. A damp spot of water and blood on the carpet the only indication that he had been there only a moment before.

A cold stillness settled over him, shock, denial, horror- then Milah's cry of anger broke him free. It lasted only a moment before Hades snapped his fingers and she was gone too. Hot tears slipped down his cheeks though the lump in his throat prevented him from saying a word.

The walls began to melt away and when Liam blinked he found himself below again. Familiar stone walls replaced the mayor's office, the fallen flask on the floor in the middle of the cell.

Hades leaned easily against the wall watching him for a reaction. Liam searched for the anger he should have felt, but the place he expected to find it was empty and cold and he sank to his knees, the hard stone jarring him.

Hades kicked the flask closer to him from where it had fallen with a smirk. "You look like you could use a drink, Captain. They may have left some for you." Hades vanished, leaving Liam alone in the stone cell, staring at the still open flask.

He reached for it in a haze, the weight of it indicating that despite the puddle on the floor of the cell in front of him it was not yet empty.

Killian would hate him for what he was about to do.

Killian was gone.

"Liam?"

He froze, her voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere at once and he glanced around the cell. It couldn't be. Hades destroyed her, just like he destroyed-

"Liam!"

He shook his head hard. He was going mad…

"LIAM!"

He blinked and suddenly the stone walls were gone, the sharp pain in his knees where he'd struck the stone was gone, replaced by a dull aching in his neck and back. Milah's face swam into view and around her, the mayor's office.

"Milah-" he murmured in amazement, his mind still foggy, trying to figure out why he was using an open book as a pillow. "You're alive."

"Not … if we're being technical about it," she corrected with a half-hearted smile. She raised a gloved hand to his cheek and wiped gently at the tears that had fallen while he slept. "It was just a dream, Liam. We're all fine."

He reached for her hand, remembering at the last minute to hold her wrist rather than her still healing hand. He pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist instead and she smiled. He took several steadying breaths before glancing to the middle of the room, half expecting to see water-soaked carpet. He breathed a sigh of relief when his own eyes confirmed what Milah had said. Just a dream.

He'd been running himself ragged these last few days, early mornings at the mayor's office and late nights at the bar. Desperate to find some way to contact Emma. The whole plan hinged on being able to reach her… He looked around guiltily. There was still so much to do. Still he knew he wouldn't be able to relax until he was absolutely certain…

"I have to go," he said quietly. "I need to see him."

"Go," Milah replied, voice soft. "I'll see you tonight."

* * *

Killian had played the drunken deckhand for days while Milah and Liam scoured the mayor's office for a clue to getting the phone booth working again. He put on a particular show at the beginning and end of every day, on the gangplank when Hades often came to see if today would be the day he didn't make it across.

But while Hades wasn't watching he had almost free access to the bowels of the ship for final repairs. He worked inefficiently, maintaining the facade of drunkenness at nearly all times in case of a surprise visit from Hades, but eventually Hades grew bored of taunting him and his visits grew less frequent.

He'd grown careless, he realized abruptly, when there were steps on the deck above. A momentary panic made his chest tighten until he realized he knew those steps. Liam was in a hurry, but his steps on the deck above were familiar. Killian dropped what he was working on and hurried towards the ladder to meet Liam, the urgency of his brother's steps making him nervous. Had something gone wrong?

Liam was faster and was already making his way down the ladder before Killian could begin to climb.

"Li-" Killian started to ask what was wrong but before he could say a word Liam had dropped down the ladder and wrapped him in a tight hug. Killian returned the embrace with eyebrows furrowed, but waited until Liam let go before pulling away. "Are you alright, Liam? Is everything-"

"Fine. Fine, little brother," Liam insisted.

Killian nodded, eyes still suspicious, and too worried to bother correcting him. He jerked his head for Liam to follow him, giving him a silent update on the state of the ship. Words were too risky when Hades could always be listening, but after a brief tour Liam could see with his own eyes what Killian could not say aloud.

The ship was nearly ready.

The ship was almost ready and they still had no way of contacting Emma.

He needed to come up with something else...

* * *

In the end it wasn't some secret in a book in the mayor's office that gave them the phone booth. It was a campaign of whispers through Liam's bar, resulting in a public appeal to Hades himself to fix the phone booth which Liam and Milah appeared to have nothing to do with. After all, Hades had put in the phone booth for a reason, he knew the despair that resulted from people calling into the void and never knowing if the recipient had heard. The phone booth was finally repaired nearly two weeks after Emma and her family had left. Hades own doing.

Milah's job was to contact Emma without Hades noticing while Killian did final checks of the ship's seaworthiness and Liam finally returned to the stone room he'd been avoiding for centuries.

It was the last thing he wanted to do, even after all these years, even after seeing Killian again and being assured that it was all just a part of Hades torment, even so the thought of reentering that room made him break out in a cold sweat that he pretended was from the pace of his movement and the chill air in the caverns.

But it was hardly the first time he's done something he didn't want to for Killian. Painful things, terrible things, things that two hundred years have not been enough to wash away. He can do this too. For Killian, he reminded himself with every step.

For Killian.

The passageways were familiar, even centuries since he'd mapped them. Dark and damp but reassuringly quiet. Still his pace slowed almost without his volition as he grew closer to the cell, his breath coming faster even as he slowed to a walk, reasoning that he must be on his guard now. There was no reason for why he stopped frozen in the hallway just outside the stone room, staring inside and unable to force his legs to move another step.

He can barely breathe through the panic that feels like it is going to crush him. He knows what it feels like to be crushed. It was one of the many ways he'd felt Killian die so many years ago. He remembers the grip of the Kraken's arms, the cracking of ribs and bones. The taste of blood in his mouth.

He has to go in. He knows that. Killian and Milah need him to go in. But he can't bring himself to take another step

And if they were here, maybe it would be easier. Maybe he could focus on them instead of the memory of his little brother's body lying broken on the cold stone floor. If he could just touch Killian, know that he's really there and not lying in that cell.

He tries to force himself to take another step, just one more, just get a little closer to his goal, but he can't.

Damnit, Killian needs that crystal. Unless this is all part of Hades' trick? Convince him his brother is well and then drag him right back to Leviathan Shoals. What the hell is he even thinking, trying to get back to Leviathan Shoals. He's playing right into the demon's hands.

He shakes his head.

That isn't real. Killian is real. Killian needs the crystal.

Still his feet refuse to carry him forward, his breathing remains ragged and labored.

Killian needs that crystal.

He's letting his brother down, he's letting Milah down. They both are doing their part and now he must do his. Get it over with and move on. Don't look back. As he's always managed before. He has no choice but to do it again.

He manages a few steps more, but once he's inside the room he drops to his knees. Even the stinging pain of striking on stone isn't enough to draw him back to the task at hand. He can't breathe... can't breathe.

A sob escapes him. "I'm sorry, Killian," he says brokenly to the empty room; unsure if he is speaking to the brother somewhere outside the dungeon or to the brother he is now convinced is lying still on the cold stone floor. "I'm so sorry."

He couldn't stand if he wanted to, just breathing is too much. He can feel the kraken's limbs constricting around Killian's chest, can feel Killian dying, himself dying.

Again.

He curls around himself, the stone room forgotten, the crystal forgotten, the plan forgotten. He's alone, curled up in the corner of an unlocked cell, feeling his brother dying.

Again.

* * *

When Liam was late by a minute, they thought perhaps it took him longer to find the crystal than he'd anticipated. At 5 minutes they wondered if he took a wrong turn. By 15 minutes they're trying not to admit to each other that they are afraid and by 20 they've both decided without a word that they're going after him.

Killian thought at first he might have to fight Milah for the right to go after Liam, but she had a more visible job than he and if Liam hadn't actually been captured by Hades the last thing they wanted to do was alert Hades to their plan by all vanishing simultaneously.

"If you're not back in an hour," she warned, "I'm coming after you too."

"He's probably just looking for the crystal," Killian whispered back, trying to convince himself more than anything else. "Keep Hades distracted."

Killian told himself he'd likely run into Liam on his return trip, have to endure a lecture about endangering the mission. He told himself that all the way through the caverns, because the alternative is unthinkable. If Liam had been captured…

He made his way to the dungeons without interference from Hades and he was not entirely certain if that's a good thing or bad. Perhaps he's distracted by Milah. Or perhaps he's distracted by Liam.

He slowed as he approached the dungeon, on guard for a trap, but when he heard agonized noises coming from one of the cells subtlety was discarded in an instant. Killian raced down the hall, half expecting to find a stone door between himself and his suffering brother, but the door was wide open, with no sign of Hades at all.

He stepped into the room and saw Liam, curled into a corner facing the wall. He was gasping for breath and sobbing out something that sounded like an apology but Killian didn't wait to find out before darting to Liam's side.

It's a trap.

He was certain of it and somewhere under his panic he knew that the stone door was going to close behind him and they'd be trapped here together.

He didn't care.

"Liam?"

Liam curled tighter away from him and Killian bent closer, trying desperately to see what wound Liam was hiding from him. "Liam, let me help-" Killian insisted, looking for blood, or any sign of what was hurting Liam so. The little gasping sobs continued on unabated until finally Killian simply tugged him forcefully over, apologizing under his breath for the gasp of pain he knew would come.

Only it didn't.

There was no blood, no bruising, he ran his fingers along Liam's torso in search of some hidden wound but found nothing. Liam was entirely unscathed.

"Liam?" Killian called again, somehow more worried now than he'd have been if he had found a wound. His brother's eyes were screwed tight, tears leaking from beneath the lashes as he struggled for breath. "Liam, look at me. Tell me what's wrong." The stern tone had no effect on Liam and panic rose in Killian's mind. Was it some magic that tortured Liam, some new torment of Hades that left no marks? "Liam, please-" Killian begged, his voice shaking. "I need you to open your eyes."

Liam's eyes snapped open, wide and terrified. Without warning he was off the floor tugging Killian off balance. Killian tripped, stumbling towards the wall in surprise, but Liam caught him, pressing him against the wall and putting himself between Killian and the door.

"Liam, what the dev-"

"Stay still," Liam hissed, "be quiet." Killian complied by habit, Liam's eyes were locked fixedly at the door as though he expected at any moment someone to come in and try to take Killian away.

"Liam-"

"Quiet, brother, I won't let him hurt you. I won't let him take you away again-"

Finally something snapped into place and Killian's heart sank. He'd seen this before. He'd have recognized it instantly in anyone but Liam, it simply hadn't occurred to him that it could happen to Liam, who had endured so much without faltering.

He'd seen it first in a boy, barely older than Henry's age. He'd been trapped in the hold when a storm nearly flooded the compartment, barely made it out with his life. For weeks he would get like… like this… wide terrified eyes and gasping for every breath. He'd thought the boy too young, too soft for his crew and left him (without any objections from the lad) at the next port.

"Liam?" he asked carefully. "What did he do?"

"Stay behind me, little brother- He won't take you again."

He'd seen the panics take older crewman too, after Leviathan shoals, and the echo caves. He'd seen grown men weep for fear that the shadow was coming for them too. He'd locked men in the brig to keep them from seeking the ocean's rest rather than risk the wrath of Pan. Liam had suffered so much more than those men, had walked right back into his worst nightmares alone. And Killian had let him.

He needed to get Liam the hell out of this place.

He needed that crystal.

Without that crystal their plan fell apart. Without that crystal they had no way to fight Hades. Even if he managed to get home to Emma, without the crystal Liam and Milah would be left to face Hades alone and unarmed.

 _They_ needed that crystal.

"Liam, there's no one here but us. It's just us," he insisted, trying to force Liam to meet his eyes. It took a few moments for Liam's gaze to settle on Killian again. Confusion and fear waring for dominance in his eyes before confusion won the victory.

"Killian?"

"Aye, brother, you with me?"

"Always." His voice was shaky and Killian pulled him into a hug. Liam's grip was as shaky as his voice but with a desperate fierceness that Killian did his best to return. When Liam finally pulled away Killian caught his arm to keep him from retreating too far.

"Brother, what- what can I do?" Killian asked quietly. It was his brother's own language that escaped his lips. An oft repeated plea from their childhood, begging Killian to tell him what course of action could make it better. (Keep the lamp burning, tend the wounds, don't leave me alone.) He understands the words better now than he did as a child. The desperation to make it better somehow when you aren't sure how.

"Find the crystal," Liam said quietly, his eyes dancing over the room rapidly, every instinct warning him to run, to escape this place before it took everything from him. "We have to find the crystal and-" Get out. The words didn't quite escape his lips but Killian heard them anyway.

Killian nodded as Liam finally broke away, taking one side of the room and examining each stone with eyes and fingers while Killian took the other side, glancing back every so often at Liam.

The minutes ticked slowly by as they searched in tandem, making their way around the periphery of the room first. Killian found nothing, no loose stones, no secret hiding places. His stomach began to knot nervously, if not here than where?

"Killian-" Liam whispered finally and he turned. "Help me with this-"

Killian moved to the other side of the heavy iron cot, the only furnishing in the room and helped Liam to shift it away from the wall. Liam knelt and then... the sound they'd both been waiting for. The shifting of stone under Liam's probing. The stone came loose with a slight effort and a grin spread across Liam's face as he reached into the space below to pull out a fabric wrapped object. He pulled away just enough of the fabric to reveal the broken crystal inside before shoving the thing inside his jacket and turning back to Killian.

"Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

When they got back to the ship, Milah had very nearly worn a groove into the floor of the captain's cabin. She'd retreated below eventually, in the hopes that her absence would not be missed just yet, and knowing that her frantic pacing topside was bound to get someone's attention.

She sighed in relief when they came down the ladder into the cabin but didn't say a word, still nervous that speaking aloud would somehow clue in Hades sooner than necessary.

By unspoken agreement they hesitated a moment, knowing that this might be their last moment of peace for sometime. Finally Liam spoke.

"Ready?" he asked simply.

"Aye, Captain," they responded.

"Drain the ballast," Liam ordered, "it's time our girl got some exercise."

* * *

 _ **Honestly, I'm mostly convinced no one remembers this. *I* barely remember this. But it's done (after i post the second part later today) and I hate not finishing things so... tada**_


	12. 12 Fighting for home

**Chapter** **12**

* * *

The next few minutes were a flurry of activity. A few modifications to the ballast system, (at the expense of several other nearby ships) had the ballasts emptied nearly three times faster than they ever had topside.

These first few minutes were crucial. They needed enough of a head start that Hades wouldn't notice their departure or direction and send them all flying into the water before they even made it out of port. An unfortunate amount of that was a matter of luck. Of who happened to be looking out over the water and how loyal they may or may not be to Hades.

They worked efficiently and in near silence to guide the ship from the harbor out towards open water. Whether that silence was a side effect of their haste or of their nerves no one was entirely certain. But finally, the distant shore disappeared entirely. The sight likely would have been more relief if the waters were not the same eerie green of the river of lost souls, but they had their head start.

The stars were different here, and Killian couldn't even be certain of the position of the perpetually red sun, so instead he was forced to rely on exacting measurements for speed and direction, relayed every few minutes from above by Milah serving as a go-between the helm and the navigation desk. There was no way to double check his calculations here, no point of reference to allow for the correction of small unnoticed deviations. They would know if all was correct when they arrived at their destination…or didn't.

Killian was glad the task gave him little time to think of anything else. He had no time to wonder if Emma had received their message, of whether she'd be able to gather the crew in time, if she was still safe on the perilous journey to the Shoals. He had no time to worry about if Hades was following, how far behind he was or if he was playing another game with them. He could only keep his careful log of calculations, call adjustments to Milah and hope like hell that Emma would be able to get there in time.

* * *

Liam could feel the eerie calmness of the Shoals before he could actually see it, the chill of it clenched at his heart before he even noticed the mists on the horizon.

"Killian-" he called below, eyes not leaving the mist.

Killian's head popped up from below, "we should be within…" his voice trailed off as he followed Liam and Milah's gaze to where the mists settled. Pulling himself up the rest of the way onto the deck, his eyes scanned the horizon in all directions. There was no sign of another ship. Of Hades. Of Emma.

"Now what?" Milah finally broke the silence with the question on all their minds.

"We wait," Liam said, "and hope Emma arrives before Hades realizes where we've come."

"She'll be here," Killian insisted, "she'll come."

After the mad rush of the escape from port and the race to the shoals it felt beyond uneasy to simply wait and see who would arrive first, salvation or damnation. But wait they must, eyes locked on the horizon until finally there was something to see. Milah saw it first, a dark shape barely recognizable as a ship from so far away.

She handed the spyglass to Killian. "That ship look familiar?"

It was too far off to see much but his stomach clenched, the profile did not look like one he had seen in the harbor in Storybrooke. He shook his head and Liam and Milah tensed.

"Hades wouldn't actually follow by ship would he?" Milah said hopefully.

Killian didn't respond except to shrug and turn the spyglass back to the approaching vessel.

"If it is Emma she may not see us," Killian worried aloud, "they're on the other side of the veil."

Liam made the decision for them, turning their own vessel to an intercept course. "Let's find out shall we?"

After a few terse minutes there was a change from the ship, a piece of red fabric moving up the flagpole like a beacon. Killian trained his spyglass on it and suddenly laughed in relief.

"I think…" he chuckled again, "I think that is Smee's hat!" Within a few minutes they were close enough to see some of the forms on the deck and finally he could distinguish the long blonde hair of a woman at the rail, her eyes peering unseeingly over the water.

As they drew close Liam pulled the crystal from his coat, unwrapping it carefully and giving it to Killian who rewrapped it in a bit of old sail and put it inside his own jacket until they were close enough to reach Emma.

"Killian?" Emma called, she was looking at him now, but sounded uncertain despite how close they now were. Suddenly his eyes were clouded with smoke and he found himself standing aboard the other vessel.

"Emma! I knew you'd come!"

"Of course I came," she retorted, sounding indignant, "but you…" she reached out for him and her hand passed through his. Her smile fell, "I can barely see you, Killian it's like… like talking to a ghost."

"I suppose that makes sense, I'm … barely here."

"He's here?" For the first time Killian realized that Emma was not alone. Along with what remained of his ragtag crew was David who was looking at Emma in confusion. Regina moved closer nodding, though she was looking at Killian. "Why can't I see him?" David asked, confused.

"Magic, probably," Regina commented with a shrug. "They're not … quite here."

Emma's eyes flashed in frustration, "So how do I fix it, how do I get you here?"

"There's something else that needs fixing first," Killian said, pulling the broken crystal from his jacket and holding it out to her.

"What is it?"

"A weapon. One we can use against Hades. But it must be repaired by someone with magic and a beating heart. Know anyone like that?" he teased.

Emma grinned and reached for it, but Killian pulled back. "Things may get messy once you fix this. Hades doesn't seem to know where we are but I suspect he will sense it when you repair the crystal. I doubt he'll be pleased."

Emma glanced towards the other ship. "Liam and Milah, I presume?"

"You can't see them?"

"Not well. It's hazy, like something is there but it's not quite clear."

"Well then I should inform you, you are being boarded by ghosts at the moment." Emma's eyes finally focused on them when they drew close, though the crew and David remained perplexed at what seemed a one-sided conversation from their perspective.

"You should get below, the both of you," Liam suggested. "If you need time we can try to give it to you if you're out of sight."

"Liam says that-"

"I heard," Emma interrupted. "The crew should get below as well, there's no point in them being in danger if they can't even see their enemy. She glanced over at David, "that means you too, dad." He looked about to protest but something in her eyes stopped him and he nodded turning to herd the rest of the crew into the hold below.

The cabin was not as spacious as the Jolly Roger's but it should serve its purpose. Keeping Emma out of sight for just long enough. Regina joined her below in case something unexpectedly magical happened when the crystal was repaired, and Killian had taken up a position at the top of the ladder and nodded down to her.

"They ready?" Emma asked nervously.

"As ready as they can be."

She nodded, "well then, let's kill a god shall we?"

She took the broken pieces of crystal from him and took a few deep breaths.

"You've got this, Swan," he offered reassuringly and she nodded. Her hands began to glow and the crystal with it. Then his attention was drawn away by a familiar voice.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Hades drawled, his eyes flickering rapidly over the ship for the source of the magic he had sensed and settling on Liam standing between him and the hold. "I never would have suspected you would choose to come back here. Did you miss this place? You and I had such fun here. Which was your favorite?"

"My favorite?" Liam stalled, feigning confusion in an attempt to give Emma as much time as possible. Fortunately Hades was prone to extended bouts of monologuing and he didn't disappoint now.

"You haven't forgotten, have you captain? Personally, there was something about that first time. Classic really. The limbs of a giant sea monster creeping along the wood of the ship. The cracking of wood, cold water, watching his lungs fill with the sea." Hades was circling Liam and Milah predatorily as he spoke, his eyes darting behind them from time to time. He was stalling too, Milah realized. He could sense the crystal on the ship but not precisely where it was.

She could feel Liam tensing beside her and reached for his hand, squeezing gently and grounding Liam in this reality.

"Where is little brother, Captain?" Hades asked, "have you lost him again? Your record really does leave much to be desired." By now Hades was no longer even trying to hide his probing glances around the ship landing on the door to the cabin and narrowing.

"Looking for this?" Liam asked, holding up the fabric that had, until recently, covered the broken crystal. "The one weapon that can kill you," Liam taunted, "I've been looking for this for a very long time."

For an instant Liam thought he saw nervousness in Hades eyes but it was gone a moment later replaced by a mocking smirk. He stepped closer to Liam, his eyes flashing nearly as brightly as his hair.

"Try it, Captain."

Liam moved quickly, charging forward and burying the blade he'd been hiding in the cloth in Hades' still heart. Hades laughed, reaching for Liam's throat. There was the smell of scorched skin and a sizzling sound as Liam cried out, his yell cut off when Hades tightened his grip.

"Fool. That can't kill me," Hades taunted.

"But this can," Hades spun towards Killian but not fast enough. The glowing crystal pierced his heart and with a flash of light the god of the underworld was no more than a pile of ash on the deck of a borrowed ship.

Liam stumbled, gasping, and Milah hurried forward to support him.

"Are you alright?" Killian asked. The smell of burning flesh lingered in the air and Killian tried to pull Liam's hand from his throat to get a better look.

"I'll survive," Liam croaked, his voice hoarse. "In a manner of speaking."

Emma hurried forward to help but when she raised her hands to his throat to heal him nothing happened.

"My magic can't reach you," she said apologetically.

"I'll be fine," Liam insisted. "If your magic can't reach me, what about Killian?"

"Only one way to find out," Emma offered. She glanced over at Regina and nodded her readiness and Regina pulled out her heart as she once had in the underworld. Splitting the heart with a now practiced ease Regina returned half to Emma's chest then held the other out for Emma to take.

Emma looked on, confused, but Regina insisted. "It should be you. If anyone can reach through the veil to him it will probably be his true love, don't you think?"

Emma accepted the heart with shaking hands and turned towards Killian. "It's going to work," she said quietly, trying to reassure herself or Killian, she wasn't entirely sure. He nodded, probably more certain than she was. Taking a deep breath she plunged the heart into his chest making him gasp.

He could feel it.

After so long without a beating heart of his own he'd forgotten what it was like to feel his heart race. What it was like to see the world in full color again. He laughed joyously as Emma threw herself into his arms and this time he was not a ghost to her, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her soundly. He could taste the tears streaming down her cheeks, could feel her relief in the shaking of her frame. He pulled away slightly and wiped her tears away. "No more tears, love. You did it." He kissed her once more before David's voice interrupted them.

"I'm glad you're back pirate but don't make me kill you again."

Killian chuckled as Emma pulled away to glare at her father.

"Not funny," she grumbled.

Killian reached out to shake David's hand but David laughed and pulled him into a hug. "Just this once," he muttered.

He pulled away grinning, his smile not falling until he caught sight of a wispy figure out of the corner of his eye. His heart sank, now on this side of the veil they were as invisible to him as he had been to David. He could see... something out of the corner of his eye, probably an effect of Emma's heart in his chest but when he turned to face them they were gone.

"Liam… Milah?" he glanced at Emma nervously.

"They're still here," she assured him, pointing to a seemingly empty space next to the rail.

"Thank you," he whispered, somewhat awkwardly to the empty deck. Emma took his hand and suddenly he could hear a voice, Milah's.

"Tell him…" she made a grumpy sound of frustration, "tell him I hate goodbyes and I'll never forgive him for making me say it so many times! No, don't tell him that…"

"I heard that," he said with a chuckle.

"Sherbert pops! I'm not doing it again, you hear me Killian. I'm not saying goodbye again. I know you can't see me but this is me, walking away and not saying goodbye again."

There was a warm chuckle from Liam and Killian turned towards the voice. "I suppose I'd better follow her or she may just leave me stranded here."

"She may just," Killian agreed, his voice shaky.

"You'll be alright, Killian." Liam said confidently, "this is where you belong."

Emma squeezed his hand lightly in affirmation and he smiled, "I know, I know it is but… I've grown used to having you around again. I wish…"

"I do too," Liam sighed "but we had more time than I ever thought we would. And you've your own family now."

"You're family too," Emma interrupted.

"Aye, thank you lass." There was a pause and Killian could almost hear the smile on Liam's face. "You take care of him, Emma, or I will haunt you. You know I will."

Emma chuckled and nodded.

Killian wanted to protest but his throat was too tight. He felt a slight pressure on his shoulder that could almost have been his imagination and then it was gone too.

* * *

Storybrooke was absolutely covered in twinkle lights.

Killian suspected it may be guilt for having to stay home with Neal rather than join Emma on her voyage to Leviathan Shoals but Mary Margaret was making up for that now in the best way she knew how. A grand party where the decorations spilled out from Granny's into the streets as though a party shop had exploded inside.

"Are you entirely certain that our attendance is required at this event?" Killian asked as Emma braided her hair hurriedly in a mirror.

"This party is for you. You can't just not go. Besides, I have a surprise for you!"

He placed a kiss on the back of her neck and wrapped one arm around her.

"Don't even think about trying to distract me, Killian Jones!" Emma snarked without heat, leaning back into his embrace anyway.

"No? I think you enjoy being distracted."

Emma hummed a little as though trying to decide and then spun in his grip leaning into him and resting her ear on his chest. She could feel his heartbeat, her heartbeat in his chest and she melted a little into his touch.

"I missed you," she said, for probably the thousandth time since he'd been back.

"And I you. But I'm home now." He placed another gentle kiss on the top of her head and tightened his grip.

They stayed like that until Emma finally insisted that they were quickly moving from 'fashionably late' to 'just plain late.'

If he hadn't known where the party was already he probably could have followed the lights for miles and ended up in the right place. He appreciated the sentiment, truly, but he still felt a little awkward being the center of attention at an event like this. He tightened his grip on Emma's hand just outside the door and she smiled at him.

"Trust me, Killian," Emma said with a smile, "In about 3 minutes you are not going to care about the lights or how many people here still think you're trying to pick their pockets."

"I'm sure it's a lovely party," Killian acquiesced. Your mother does have a knack for such things."

Emma smiled a mischievous smile that made Killian's eyebrows hit his hairline but she just tugged him closer to the door. "Trust me."

The door opened and the warmth and light spilled out into the street. It seemed as though the entire town had been invited (most likely the entire town had been invited.)

"Welcome home!" The crowd cried, more or less in unison, followed by an echoed slightly slurred "welcome home" from the dwarves who were clearly already testing out the drinks menu.

There was a line of people dropping by their table now to welcome him home. He'd always felt a little like an outsider in this town and he had to admit he was touched by the display. He was distracted for a moment by Emma's placing a drink in front of him when suddenly he heard a voice from behind him.

"Welcome home, Killian."

Killian spun, hardly daring to believe his ears and still barely believing his eyes. Liam and Milah grinning back at him, inside Granny's… at his welcome party.

"How-" he stammered, still trying to convince himself it wasn't a dream. He turned to Emma, "How did you-"

"I didn't," Emma said quietly.

"It was Zeus," Liam explained, "in gratitude for our 'assistance' with Hades. We tried to move on and he said he was sending us where we belonged. Here, with you."

"I don't care, I don't care how-" Killian stammered cutting him off with a hug. Then turned to Milah who laughed as he hugged her too.

"They wandered into Granny's about two hours ago," Emma explained, "followed the lights. When I told them about the party-"

"Apologies brother, we hoped you'd forgive us a minor delay. We couldn't resist-"

"Your brother is being too polite again," Milah admitted. " _I_ couldn't resist. He wanted to barge right into your house the second we got here but really, how many opportunities like this do you get?"

Killian shook his head, still shocked. The room was suddenly too terribly close and he glanced longingly at the door.

"Emma, I don't suppose-" he'd defied Hades himself without hesitation but bailing in the middle of one of Snow White's parties somehow seemed infinitely more dangerous.

"Make a break for it, move low and fast. I'll cover you-" Emma teased.

He kissed her lightly and led the way from the room, the chiming of the bell as he left tinkling merrily behind him. Emma followed a few minutes later, following the path no one had agreed on but was the only possible route. She caught up with them halfway to the docks, slipping her hand into his from behind as they wandered, in no particular hurry but with no uncertainty of destination.

There was an audible sigh of relief from Milah when the ship came into view, her eyes wide with delight. "Oh, Killian. She's still so beautiful."

Liam was less verbose, settling instead for running his fingers lightly along the polished wood with what could only be described as awe. When he reached the helm his eyebrows lifted for a moment at the carved compass in the wood but didn't mention it.

"How well do you know this harbor, Killian?" Liam asked finally.

"I am still the best navigator in the realms."

The night was bright and clear, a nearly full moon offering them plenty of light for familiar waters. In no time they were some distance from the shore, rocking gently. They could see the lights from shore, Snow's twinkle lights competing with the stars for attention.

Emma turned her attention back to Killian, craning her neck a bit to see him. They were both leaning easily against the side of the ship now, letting Liam and Milah reaquaint themselves with an old friend.

He kissed her forehead gently, the look of disbelief still on his face, as though he expected at any moment to wake from a lovely dream.

"This is real," she said quietly.

He chuckled and nodded. "Can you blame me for doubting. This is so far beyond my cherished hopes it still feels as though it could only be a dream."

She spun to face him, the moonlight and the distant lights of the shore illuminating her smile with a pale glow.

"Welcome home, Killian."

* * *

 ** _Well... this was never meant to take this long. For anyone who actually stuck around I'm very grateful! Hope you found something in here worth the wait!_**


End file.
